Author Topic: Idea: BMX Tech Wiki (Read 123202 times)

Tubes6al4v · « **on:** November 14, 2009, 01:40:01 PM »

UPDATE: The BMX wiki is currently up at www.bmx-u.com Please contribute what you can. Even just a photo, or other work to be edited, it all helps. We may move this to BG later on, but we'll have to see.
Contact info: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AnwRtvUPvy5CdEtCUE1hODRnUDVUbUl0aldkTmo3bVE&hl=en
Some Links: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AnwRtvUPvy5CdEw0QjNGc1FwUWo0WTN2M056X2V6clE&hl=en
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[Original Post]

One of the things I have always enjoyed about bikeguide is that we can get a good dialog going about some of the more in-depth parts (like helicoils, etc). At the same time, I see a lot of reoccurring topics. The stickies help, but if we were to cover all of the answered maintenance questions, that list would be far too long.

So, what if we started building a wiki with answers we come up with. Hopefully we could link to maintenance videos on Youtube (because, lets face it, people prefer watching videos to reading...) I am not sure if there are restrictions on the number of photos, but if we find a way around that, we could use it to keep an up-to-date listing of interesting parts (like freecoasters) without having to put pressure on one person to keep things up.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think. I don't have any experience with Wikis, so help is very much appreciated. I opened http://bmxtech.wikispaces.com/ as a test. If you have a better host in mind, please start it, or suggest it.

Allatt · « **Reply #1 on:** November 14, 2009, 01:44:16 PM »

this would be for sure a sweet thing if its done right. sort of how i presume bikeguide was going to be
(judging from the articles on the main page)

Tubes6al4v · « **Reply #2 on:** November 14, 2009, 01:51:05 PM »

I think that was what sheep had originally intended, but the forums took over so much of the maintenance and cost. He probably ran into the same issue that Bunky and I had/have with free-coaster.com only one person does the work. I am hoping a wiki can make it a more collaborative effort. Maybe we can have the discussions here on BG...

JohnW · « **Reply #3 on:** November 14, 2009, 01:51:18 PM »

I think we should also do a comprehensive part/frame/bike list as well on it. That would be really good for people buying outdated parts they can't seem to find any info on. Winstanleys used to keep all the old shit listed, but they purged it a few months ago.

Allatt · « **Reply #4 on:** November 14, 2009, 01:54:41 PM »

should probs just keep it to maintainance john w
some other guy has the parts thing going (i saw a thread on here few days ago).

Tubes6al4v · « **Reply #5 on:** November 14, 2009, 02:00:59 PM »

If someone is already doing a comprehensive list, that would be a great start. Is it a collaborative thing (i.e. wiki), or just a site? If nothing else, we should link to the list. And if he would like to export his work to the wiki, who's going to complain?

I thought about the list thing, but there is a lot to keep up with. Hopefully we could get the companies/fans to do the listing themselves. Maybe work with VitalBMX to get more parts listed in their reviews section and work with them... just throwing out ideas here.

CARBON · « **Reply #6 on:** November 14, 2009, 02:08:22 PM »

The best thing about a true wiki is that anyone can update anything. If it gets popular and a lot of people contribute it could turn into something pretty good.

It's also great for all the questions that new riders are probably afraid to ask on here... What does female axle mean? What's the difference between a freewheel and a cassette?

I like this idea.

Big Ben · « **Reply #7 on:** November 14, 2009, 02:44:56 PM »

youd need to have a few people moderating it carefully, but if you put in the effort and write up a few articles to start it up, it could be very useful

Tubes6al4v · « **Reply #8 on:** November 14, 2009, 03:13:02 PM »

Wikia has a bit of a learning curve to it. Kind of a bummer. Let's try bmxtech.wikispaces.com which supports external links, and supposedly blog import...

CARBON · « **Reply #9 on:** November 14, 2009, 03:30:36 PM »

I have access to the software that runs wikipedia.org and the bandwidth to run it.

All we need is a couple of people who are willing to moderate. I'm willing to put in the work to get it started.

JohnW · « **Reply #10 on:** November 14, 2009, 03:35:14 PM »

Quote from: CARBON;3137511

I have access to the software that runs wikipedia.org and the bandwidth to run it.

All we need is a couple of people who are willing to moderate. I'm willing to put in the work to get it started.

I'm definitely willing to help out with moderating.

Big Ben · « **Reply #11 on:** November 14, 2009, 03:36:41 PM »

ill do what i can when im not working. you should start by making a list of topics you want to cover and making the pages for them so you can then get them filled in when you can

blueee · « **Reply #12 on:** November 14, 2009, 03:49:11 PM »

some dumb kid will break a part and delete a whole wiki entry replacing it with profile sucks cuase thier cranks got a bit of wobble

CARBON · « **Reply #13 on:** November 14, 2009, 03:56:43 PM »

Quote from: bluemeate;3137529

some dumb kid will break a part and delete a whole wiki entry replacing it with profile sucks cuase thier cranks got a bit of wobble

They way the wikipedia software works is that it keeps track of every change that happens to an entry.

If somebody deletes an entry or messes something up it's a one second job... literaly one click, to restore the post back to any of it's previous versions.

Wikipedia has been through way worse problems and the software has been updated over the years to deal with them.

Tubes6al4v · « **Reply #14 on:** November 14, 2009, 04:01:41 PM »

Carbon, it'd be great if you could do that. I definitely would like to moderate as well. Does that software allow embedded Youtube videos?

Bikeguide.org - Bike maintenance for BMX'ers · « **Reply #14 on:** November 14, 2009, 04:01:41 PM »

Author Topic: Idea: BMX Tech Wiki (Read 123202 times)

Bikeguide.org - Bike maintenance for BMX'ers