The Knowledge Base is now Available

If you interested I now have wikimedia installed for use as a knowledge base/FAQ/dictionary/encyclopedia etc. etc.

http://nepacrossroads.com/kb/

What I'll be doing over time is integrating it with the forum more, for example if someone asks what is Anthracite Coal the phrase will directly link to the article in their post. As another example we could move some of the stickies there, "Common Stoker Terminology" comes to mind. then I could have a auto link for stokers which will go to page describing stokers.

The have to be member of the forum to edit pages in the KB, its the same username and password you have now. You will have to login once to the KB. although it uses the same username and password they are separate logins for the moment.

There really isn't anything there, I still need to theme it and add some other things. Categories is one thing I need to add... It's really a blank slate right now.

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The articles added do not have to be about just coal, they can be about anything. Cars, people, where you live... Enjoy.

How about links/host/mirror to various MFG pdf of owners manuals or long lost manuals that folks have good scans of.
What is the copyright issue with scaning manuals.
How about what is permitted to be posted with regards to copyright.

CapeCoaler wrote:How about links/host/mirror to various MFG pdf of owners manuals or long lost manuals that folks have good scans of.
What is the copyright issue with scaning manuals.
How about what is permitted to be posted with regards to copyright.

I'd love to host every piece of information that is available but copyright becomes a problem, frankly its ridiculous the length of time a copyright exists.. Copyrights last for an eternity practically. It's something like the life of the author/+50 years. As far as manuals go I don't know exactly what the status is on old ones so I'll have to err on the side of caution and consider them copyrighted unless proven otherwise. You can upload any manuals where you have permission from the copyright owner.

Having said that the beaty here is manuals can be created by members, there is lot of information posted in the forum that really gets lost shortly after its posted when it gets buried. With the KB people can add information and its always there. For example you can start an article on your specific model. Even posting just a little information is great, other can add ,correct and edit. Over time it can grow to a very large article.

So do you have a template or wish us to follow a specific format so that there is some commonality on the knowledge base?

No I have not created any templates yet, I messed around with it last year and do have one I was working on for cities and towns but that is as far as I got.

I'll be adding a few extensions, there's a parser function that allows you to do simple if,else functions and a few others if you know what I'm talking about. I also have to add a few buttons to the edit page that you commonly see on the regular wikipedia wiki.

If anyone uses wiki's a lot and there is any features missing your interested in let me know. Antoher I've seen that interested me was one for Google maps

I vote for coal berner and Stoker Man to get to work on the EFM section.

cArNaGe wrote:I vote for coal berner and Stoker Man to get to work on the EFM section.

Well there is no specifics about who can add what, if you wanted you could start an article on EFM right now. This article and anything you write can be edited by anyone. Any edits they make are saved so if someone comes along and doesn't agree with the edits they can revert back to the original you created or combine them both.

That's what has made wikipedia what it is today among other things, the ease at which you can create links for new articles is another big factor.

I'm going to let it go and see how it developes for now. If their is any problmes with people adding bad information constantly you can contact me or traderfjp . He volunteered to help as sysop for it, if there is anyone else really familiar with wiki's and wants to help let me know.

Have a Mark II section started, just a link to the specification page.

think I'm lost already

acesover wrote:think I'm lost already

Step one: If you haven't already done so make sure you are logged into the KB, the link is in the upper right. It's the same username and password you use for the forum.

Step two: We'll start simple and edit an existing page, for example go to the one about Anthracite Coal.

Step three: Click the edit button the very top which will take to the edit page.

Step four: Add something useful.

Step five: Click the save button on the bottom. that's it.

Now if someone else comes along and has some information to add to it they can, they can can even correct or add to the information you added. What happens is over time these articles will grow as people add more things. Any additions or things that are deleted are saved, the changes over time are accessible under the history tab. So if someone comes along and removes your edit but you still feel it should be there you can re add it.

You may want to consider using the other link on the top to discuss the article and changes.