Wiki

A wiki is a web page able to be contributed to and edited by many users, as such it is a collaborative system. An interesting article on the background of how a wiki works can be found at http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wiki.htm.

The Usefulness of Wiki

wiki is very useful for finding information from many different peoples opinions. This generally gives more accurate information about a topic, and helps to stop one sided posts.

Therefore giving information that is worthwhile reading.

What is a wiki..?

A wiki is a system that permits users to generate and edit web pages. The contents of a wiki page can be edited by anyone - this allows the adding of useful information or improving or correcting of the content of a page already created by someone else. Wiki is designed to be easy to use and available to everyone, therefore providing the opportunity for anyone who wants to present information.

Edit Wars

When people create or modify an article, they can become quite possessive about the content, and when an article is edited, previous contributors/creators can be automatically alerted to any changes, and have the option of "reverting" the article to a previous version. This can set up what is known as an edit war (or revert war), where an article is repeatedly edited/reverted between two versions.

There is an amusing subsection on edit wars here, with a link through to a Wikipedia article on "Lame edit wars".

One example of notable relevance to New Zealanders is a long running edit war on the origins of the pavlova: "which was invented in Australia 4, New Zealand 5, Australia 6, 7, 8, New Zealand 9"