You vote on 1and1FAQ new site features or enhancements

[eWebtricity]

I have been considering new features for the 1and1FAQ community. I am interested in your feedback on site features and enhancements that would bring more value to community. Some ideas include the following

1. Wiki for documentation purposes that would allow the community to maintain and update How-To's, tutorials, technical information and resources.

Sample: http://www.mediawiki.org (http://www.mediawiki.org/)

2. Knowledge Base, i've noticed on 1and1FAQ and other websites the lack of organization and structure of technical documents. While the forums are a great resource for interactive communications I think a structured and organized Knowledge Base might be valueable to the community.

Sample: http://www.knowledgebase.net (http://www.knowledgebase.net/)

I'd like to hear any suggestions for site features or enhancements that you may have.

[ajshea]

A knowledgebase is really what we need; it could well be done with a wiki, although enforcing organization/categorization can be chaotic.

What we need is a helpful way for someone who has a question that has been discussed and resolved in the forums to get the bottom line without having to re-read the whole thread (although doing so helps learn). Wiki articles with links to forum threads and vice-versa would do it.

* I would like to see a forum under General for "Services Offered" -- several members here offer services, and it would be nice to know what is on offer without wading through all the posts or only finding them by accident.

[Highland]

If you go the MediaWiki route there's a few caveats

1. Upgrading is a bear. It can only be done (I kid you not) by running a PHP script from the CLI.
2. Be certain to disallow anonymous editing or you'll get spammed out the wazoo
3. Administration couldn't be more confusing if they tried. You have to know the "special" page names.

[eWebtricity]

Yes I would love to integrate MediaWiki or any wiki for that matter but integration seems rough at best. So far a standalone KB seems the best option so far that perhaps has links or ties into the forums.

[iceuk]

This is a nice script: http://articletrader.com/articlems/

[celerityfm]

Personally I think a wiki would add the most value-- and I don't think it necessarily needs to be a self-hosted/roll your own mediawiki powered one either - pbwiki.com or the like would prolly do the job just fine :)

In any case, I *LOVE* having this forum here - it serves as a foil for 1&1's lack of transparency and communication (despite their excellent products).

[eWebtricity]

Article Trader looks promising

[jholzy]

Sounds like a great idea! You've got my vote for reorganizing the information found in these forums! For me, the faster I can get my hands on the material I need the better. If you put together a knowledge base or wiki where all the helpful info found on the pages of this forum were readily available and organized I'd be a happy camper. (You were thinking of making me happy, weren't you???)

I've taken a great deal from this forum over the last year and a half so if you need any help with editing, rewriting, or whatever, just let me know and I'd be glad to pitch in. I noticed you have video tute's listed in the poll as well. I'd be able to put together a flash tutorial or two if you end up going that route. Again, just let me know...

[eWebtricity]

Video captures are definitely on my list but i'm struggling with how to tie it all together with the forums. So far it seems the Knowledge Base using a structured template like a Microsoft KB article format is the most popular idea for organizing the content from the "How-To" and/or "Tutorials" forum section. I would also like to have a video tutorial library to complement the KB and keep the forums as they are for interactive discussions on questions or problems.

[dan.plifeye]

I voted for knowledgebase first, and wiki second. These forums have been a complete life saver from day 1, thank-you eWebtricity! Again, if there's anything I can do to help or anything at all I'm more than willing.

[eWebtricity]

Feel free to submit or transcribe any of the tutorials or information from the forums into the knowledge base. The knowledge base is only as strong as what we put into it and maintain with updates.

[iceuk]

Ive got some good stuff in the pipeline ..

[jholzy]

In considering any of these ideas, the one issue I see as a constant is that most info pertains to 1and1 servers and the management thereof and the perpetual OS changes coming out of the semi-dysfunctional 1and1 offices. Every time a new or upgradeable os image is offered in the 1and1 control panel there is a whole new set of circumstances that require entirely new work-arounds and fixes.

Because Fedora is so fluid and because 1and1 keeps about 2 OS releases behind, the EOL is pretty abrupt. This makes any kind of knowledge base / wiki / video tutorials obsolete pretty quick. Case in point is the excellent tutorial written to help install centOS 4 on a 32 bit system written by his excellency Highland... It is now obsolete and almost completely useless... other than a couple useful excerpts. This tute was written almost exactly a year ago and ART and users have moved on to newer versions of almost everything.

There are a few tutorials that bear up to the test of time. Those few would do well in a KB or Wiki but I wonder if the end result would be worth the effort. Perhaps before diving into any endeavor like this it might be worth identifying the information to be transposed and evaluating the usefulness of the results. Any input?

[jholzy]

One other thought: The format of these forums has been pretty successful and very useful to everyone. Would adding a KB or Wiki really add that much to this?

[dan.plifeye]

Only one way to find out I guess..

[eWebtricity]

I think you make a good point about the rapid advancement of technology. Keep in mind that there are many users who still have the old $99 Intel P4 2GB 120GB platform. So that tutorial still applies to those who have the hardware and still want to maintain CentOS4/RHEL 4 on it and with some minor modifications could use CentOS5/RHEL 5. So I don't think the technology creep will be too severe on the KB articles.