Hi tilde.club,
I’m new to tilde.club, part of the new wave of users recently. Hi everyone! I am writing partly to introduce myself and partly to see if anyone is interested in a little command line wiki project I’m toying with.
The idea is that you create html files somewhere _outside_ of your public_html directory and make them readable by others in the club group. Then contact someone else who has also done this and ask them to link to one of your files. You can then use lynx or any other command line browser to browse the wiki. It’s that simple.
For example, see my page with this command: lynx ~cmccabe/scatterWiki/index.html
If a number of people add content and link to each other, this will eventually create a decentralized, private-to-tilde.club wiki viewable only by users that are cozily logged into a shell session. How it evolves structurally is anybody’s guess.
I’m calling this scatterWiki since the wiki’s content will be scattered across users’ home directories.
By convention, I suggest creating your html files in a “scatterWiki” directory.
If you use this convention, your wiki files would be stored in: /home/yourusername/scatterWiki/yourfile.html
Why do this? Honestly there is no good reason and it is a complete waste of time. However, you still might consider it because:
1. You can have a little html fun that is not indexed by the Googlemonster.
2. This encourages one-to-one interaction among tilde.club members when requesting or giving links, and hopefully those interactions will grow.
3. You can learn more about how lynx or other text-based browsers work.
4. More time on the command line is more good.
So that’s the idea. Nothing more.
If you create a page, let me know and I’ll link to you!
cmccabe
An interesting idea, at least to my mind. I think something's missing in it, though.
If it's a wiki we want, then we should just build one using existing software. User auth could just be tied to accounts on tilde.club. This would create more overhead for ~ben and ~deepend, but it would be worth it if the wiki were actually used.
I'm not convinced we need one, though. The technically-public but somewhat hidden wiki (http://tilde.club/wiki/) hasn't seen much use, it seems. It's a useful reference for some things, but I for one haven't looked at it since I first logged into tilde.club. Maybe others value it more than me.
I hear the argument in favor of a place for private-to-the-club data, but I wonder if that runs counter to the purpose of the club: to build neat webpages. Closing part of the club off just to members with a login seems to me to be a new direction that, while perhaps a path we could follow, would require deliberation.
I like the idea of a decentralized wiki, in any case. I just don't know if tilde.club is the place for it. Perhaps you might consider standing up this project on its own and soliciting it among the technical braintrust that resides here (such as it is)?
Bradley
On Wed, 2 Oct 2019, cmccabe@tilde.club wrote:
Hi tilde.club,
I’m new to tilde.club, part of the new wave of users recently. Hi everyone! I am writing partly to introduce myself and partly to see if anyone is interested in a little command line wiki project I’m toying with.
The idea is that you create html files somewhere _outside_ of your public_html directory and make them readable by others in the club group. Then contact someone else who has also done this and ask them to link to one of your files. You can then use lynx or any other command line browser to browse the wiki. It’s that simple.
For example, see my page with this command: lynx ~cmccabe/scatterWiki/index.html
If a number of people add content and link to each other, this will eventually create a decentralized, private-to-tilde.club wiki viewable only by users that are cozily logged into a shell session. How it evolves structurally is anybody’s guess.
I’m calling this scatterWiki since the wiki’s content will be scattered across users’ home directories.
By convention, I suggest creating your html files in a “scatterWiki” directory.
If you use this convention, your wiki files would be stored in: /home/yourusername/scatterWiki/yourfile.html
Why do this? Honestly there is no good reason and it is a complete waste of time. However, you still might consider it because:
You can have a little html fun that is not indexed by the Googlemonster.
This encourages one-to-one interaction among tilde.club members when requesting or giving links, and hopefully those interactions will grow.
You can learn more about how lynx or other text-based browsers work.
More time on the command line is more good.
So that’s the idea. Nothing more.
If you create a page, let me know and I’ll link to you!
cmccabe
On Wed, Oct 02, 2019 at 08:52:56AM -0600, Bradley Gannon wrote:
An interesting idea, at least to my mind. I think something's missing in it, though.
If it's a wiki we want, then we should just build one using existing software. User auth could just be tied to accounts on tilde.club. This would create more overhead for ~ben and ~deepend, but it would be worth it if the wiki were actually used.
I'm not convinced we need one, though. The technically-public but somewhat hidden wiki (http://tilde.club/wiki/) hasn't seen much use, it seems. It's a useful reference for some things, but I for one haven't looked at it since I first logged into tilde.club. Maybe others value it more than me.
I hear the argument in favor of a place for private-to-the-club data, but I wonder if that runs counter to the purpose of the club: to build neat webpages. Closing part of the club off just to members with a login seems to me to be a new direction that, while perhaps a path we could follow, would require deliberation.
I like the idea of a decentralized wiki, in any case. I just don't know if tilde.club is the place for it. Perhaps you might consider standing up this project on its own and soliciting it among the technical braintrust that resides here (such as it is)?
Bradley
There's no reason both couldn't exist simultaneously.
That said, this is just an idea and I'm not deeply wedded to it, so I'm behind whatever others want to do. I'll just say that I like the original idea precisely because it is simple, low-tech, and different. Also because it has the geeky aspect of being command-line only. I also really like the idea of creating content that will not end up in a forever-index somewhere.
Still, just an idea and I'm behind whatever the community wants to do.
cmccabe
On Wed, 2 Oct 2019, cmccabe@tilde.club wrote:
Hi tilde.club,
I’m new to tilde.club, part of the new wave of users recently. Hi everyone! I am writing partly to introduce myself and partly to see if anyone is interested in a little command line wiki project I’m toying with.
The idea is that you create html files somewhere _outside_ of your public_html directory and make them readable by others in the club group. Then contact someone else who has also done this and ask them to link to one of your files. You can then use lynx or any other command line browser to browse the wiki. It’s that simple.
For example, see my page with this command: lynx ~cmccabe/scatterWiki/index.html
If a number of people add content and link to each other, this will eventually create a decentralized, private-to-tilde.club wiki viewable only by users that are cozily logged into a shell session. How it evolves structurally is anybody’s guess.
I’m calling this scatterWiki since the wiki’s content will be scattered across users’ home directories.
By convention, I suggest creating your html files in a “scatterWiki” directory.
If you use this convention, your wiki files would be stored in: /home/yourusername/scatterWiki/yourfile.html
Why do this? Honestly there is no good reason and it is a complete waste of time. However, you still might consider it because:
You can have a little html fun that is not indexed by the Googlemonster.
This encourages one-to-one interaction among tilde.club members when requesting or giving links, and hopefully those interactions will grow.
You can learn more about how lynx or other text-based browsers work.
More time on the command line is more good.
So that’s the idea. Nothing more.
If you create a page, let me know and I’ll link to you!
cmccabe
I think that this webring has a nice exemple of a decentralized wiki that could easily work on a single computer:
/// roy niang https://royniang.com
Le 2 oct. 2019 à 17:13, cmccabe@tilde.club a écrit :
On Wed, Oct 02, 2019 at 08:52:56AM -0600, Bradley Gannon wrote:
An interesting idea, at least to my mind. I think something's missing in it, though.
If it's a wiki we want, then we should just build one using existing software. User auth could just be tied to accounts on tilde.club. This would create more overhead for ~ben and ~deepend, but it would be worth it if the wiki were actually used.
I'm not convinced we need one, though. The technically-public but somewhat hidden wiki (http://tilde.club/wiki/) hasn't seen much use, it seems. It's a useful reference for some things, but I for one haven't looked at it since I first logged into tilde.club. Maybe others value it more than me.
I hear the argument in favor of a place for private-to-the-club data, but I wonder if that runs counter to the purpose of the club: to build neat webpages. Closing part of the club off just to members with a login seems to me to be a new direction that, while perhaps a path we could follow, would require deliberation.
I like the idea of a decentralized wiki, in any case. I just don't know if tilde.club is the place for it. Perhaps you might consider standing up this project on its own and soliciting it among the technical braintrust that resides here (such as it is)?
Bradley
There's no reason both couldn't exist simultaneously.
That said, this is just an idea and I'm not deeply wedded to it, so I'm behind whatever others want to do. I'll just say that I like the original idea precisely because it is simple, low-tech, and different. Also because it has the geeky aspect of being command-line only. I also really like the idea of creating content that will not end up in a forever-index somewhere.
Still, just an idea and I'm behind whatever the community wants to do.
cmccabe
On Wed, 2 Oct 2019, cmccabe@tilde.club wrote:
Hi tilde.club,
I’m new to tilde.club, part of the new wave of users recently. Hi everyone! I am writing partly to introduce myself and partly to see if anyone is interested in a little command line wiki project I’m toying with.
The idea is that you create html files somewhere _outside_ of your public_html directory and make them readable by others in the club group. Then contact someone else who has also done this and ask them to link to one of your files. You can then use lynx or any other command line browser to browse the wiki. It’s that simple.
For example, see my page with this command: lynx ~cmccabe/scatterWiki/index.html
If a number of people add content and link to each other, this will eventually create a decentralized, private-to-tilde.club wiki viewable only by users that are cozily logged into a shell session. How it evolves structurally is anybody’s guess.
I’m calling this scatterWiki since the wiki’s content will be scattered across users’ home directories.
By convention, I suggest creating your html files in a “scatterWiki” directory.
If you use this convention, your wiki files would be stored in: /home/yourusername/scatterWiki/yourfile.html
Why do this? Honestly there is no good reason and it is a complete waste of time. However, you still might consider it because:
You can have a little html fun that is not indexed by the Googlemonster.
This encourages one-to-one interaction among tilde.club members when requesting or giving links, and hopefully those interactions will grow.
You can learn more about how lynx or other text-based browsers work.
More time on the command line is more good.
So that’s the idea. Nothing more.
If you create a page, let me know and I’ll link to you!
cmccabe
I like cmccabe's idea, no matter the outcome.
Has anyone else been following (or working for/with) the Dat project? It's a decentralized p2p protocol for websites:
The basic idea, or inspiration, sounds similar to what's being discussed here, except the pages are hosted on your personal computer.
They have their own browser, too. It allows you to cruise Dat sites.
If anyone has first-hand knowledge, please share!
This is a neat idea, I went ahead and set up a page at /home/moondog8/scatterwiki/moondog8.html
I cross-linked to your page at /home/cmccabe/scatterWiki/index.html - I had to use the 'file://' URL protocol in the link, as a direct path caused Lynx to treat it like an FTP link.
I already find myself wishing I could use some flavor of wiki markup instead of HTML, though. Not to propose more work for the admins, but I wonder if there are any simple Wikis out there that play nicely with Lynx, and could be configured to listen only on localhost. I'm not even sure it would be necessary to try and integrate user accounts; the earliest wikis I remember were deliberately simplistic in that regard; some would provide an author/editor field, but it would be as malleable as the rest of the wiki.
On Wed, Oct 02, 2019 at 10:12:38AM -0600, Andy Chase wrote:
I already find myself wishing I could use some flavor of wiki markup instead of HTML, though. Not to propose more work for the admins, but I wonder if there are any simple Wikis out there that play nicely with Lynx, and could be configured to listen only on localhost. I'm not even sure it would be necessary to try and integrate user accounts; the earliest wikis I remember were deliberately simplistic in that regard; some would provide an author/editor field, but it would be as malleable as the rest of the wiki.
You can write markdown and use pandoc to convert it to HTML. I think ~ben wrote an article about it in the issue 2 of the zine.
tildeclub@lists.tildeverse.org
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Andy Chase -
Bradley Gannon -
cmccabe＠tilde.club -
ngp＠tilde.club -
Paul Kruczynski -
roy niang