Wikis are so thunderously cool. The potential for anyone to go ahead and edit a document on the web is outstanding, witness the joy that is Wikipedia. However there is a problem with wikis: no-one wants to edit and update a wiki page.

I don't know why this is. I have been thinking about it and the 2 problems that I see are:

1. Editing wikipages is hard. While wikis try to stay as plain-text-as-possible, usually they turn into a soup of specialized characters with specialized meanings. The first piece of wiki software that has a good WYSIWYG editor, that is especially for wiki content will soon gain wide adoption.
2. Wikis are hard to edit, because the user isn't encouraged to edit the wikipage. Usually they have to click on the edit link (if they can see it) and then read through a warning about how they should play well with others, and a list of about 50 documents to read just to fit in.
3. and finally wikis are hard to edit because the potential editor feels that they might make a mistake, or their contributions will get stomped over.

The first 2 problems can be solved with technology. Wikis need to be easier to edit. Personally I would welcome a move to an XML wiki syntax (maybe some kind of combined subset of XHTML and Docbook) with a WYSIWYG editor.

The third problem is a little harder. The HomeStarRunner Wiki is a good place to go to get ideas on making your wiki friendlier for community fostering. This might also be solved via technology, by making a clearer division between the community of a wiki, and the content of a wiki, with threaded discussions, standard profiles, and perhaps even messaging. (I am not sold on site-wide messaging myself).

Ultimately I would like to see a REST wiki with all of these features. This means some PHP coding with meditation, and some Javascript. But where the hell am I going to find time for this? (Maybe I'll do 15 mins of coding on it a day?)