1. Lois, can you tell us more about yourself? When and how did you first discover WHT?

I discovered WHT in 2004. A WHT member who took part in the forum for our web host mentioned it a few times. I went to WHT, I joined, and like many others, I became addicted.

When WHTwiki came along, I didn’t know much about wikis, and I wasn’t that interested at first. The forum is where people interact and share knowledge, right? But when I learned more about wikis, I saw that they also offer opportunities for interaction. I also saw how wikis can work better than forums as places to collaborate on knowledge. Of course forums are still best for discussion, but when you want pages with information that a variety of people contribute to, the wiki platform is exactly suited for that. And who better than the Web Hosting Talk community to build a web hosting wiki?

2. What does your day-to-day role as the WHTwiki administrator consist of?

I check the Recent Changes page regularly to see what’s been added or edited. When new content has been added, I add categories to pages that don’t already have one, and I look for ways to add links between new articles and other articles. Sometimes I add headings or copyedit.

If a page isn’t within WHTwiki policies, I edit or (on rare occasions) remove it. For example, some members overlook the Company Profiles guidelines and add promotional content to their company profiles. Or they miss the copyright notice about not posting content from other sites without permission from the copyright holders.

iNET has a team of people behind WHT projects, and I work with them on WHTwiki. Some changes that you’ll see soon are the work of that team.

The rest is a variety of things to do. I talk about WHTwiki in forum threads, on the helpdesk, and in one-to-one contact with members. I periodically check for broken links and other problems, and I look for other changes to make. When time allows, I go back and read older articles to see if I can contribute anything to them.

3. What’s the purpose of having a wiki tied to Web Hosting Talk?

We answer that question on the About page:

Why have a wiki in addition to a forum? Because both are useful for what they do best. If you want to ask questions or take part in discussions about web hosting and related topics, go to the WHT forum. On the other hand, if you want to help build and update a quality web hosting resource, or to browse such a resource, that’s what WHTwiki is for.

4. What types of content are suitable for the wiki?

WHTwiki is a web hosting wiki, so if the information is related to web hosting, it’s probably suitable for WHTwiki. The main difference is in the content format.

If someone wants to ask questions and get responses, that type of discussion belongs in the forum. The forum is also the place to post advertisements (in the advertising section, of course).

On the other hand, the wiki is more suited for tutorials and other informational pages. When tutorials were posted in the forum, they were often followed with suggestions on what to add or change to make them better. Readers had to read the whole thread to see what the community agreed on. But in the wiki, members can add or change content themselves, so each article page can have the current, collective knowledge of our members.

Wikis allow for discussion too. At the top of each article page is a “Discussion” link to a page where members can discuss the page content. If there are different opinions about what information is accurate, members can talk about it and decide together what should be on the page. In this way, WHTwiki is also interactive.

A difference between the non-advertising sections of the forum and the wiki is that in the wiki, members can link to and even discuss their own services — within WHTwiki guidelines, of course. Members can add links to their websites if they’re suitable for the pages about types of services, such as the list of server management companies. They can also write about their companies on Company Profiles pages as long as they stay within Company Profiles guidelines. In fact, members can write about any company in or related to the web hosting industry provided that they have factual information to contribute.

Article topics can be about anything related to web hosting. If the topic is suitable for non-advertising sections of the forum, it’s suitable for the wiki. WHTwiki has categoriestypes of web hosting, web hosting definitions, running a web hosting business, web hosting software and control panels, domain names, web design and content, SEO, and more. If we don’t have a category for a relevant article, any member can create a category for it. Or just start an article and leave it for someone else to add a category.

5. Wikis are not just about collaborative content. There are a lot of ways that people can interact with them. How can WHT members contribute to and interact with WHTwiki?

We cover that on the Participate page. Here’s a summary:

• Start articles
• Add to existing articles
• Contribute content that you’ve already written
• Add categories
• Add links between wiki pages (wikilinks)
• Create redirects
• Mark short pages as stubs
• Nominate articles to be the Article of the Week
• Fix or report any problems you see, from spelling mistakes to content that doesn’t belong on a particular page

A key difference between the forum and the wiki is that in the wiki, all members can edit and moderate content themselves. Instead of reporting a problem, you can fix it yourself — or you can still report it. We’ll moderate in edit wars if necessary, and we’ll stop spammers and other disruptive types, but for the most part, you don’t need to be an admin to help moderate WHTwiki.

6. What can we expect from the wiki in the near future? Do you plan on introducing new features?

We’re working on templates to use for company profile and software pages. When we have the templates in place, the company profile and software pages will look more professional and consistent, and they’ll be easier to create because members will be prompted to add specific types of content.

We’re also working on some tweaks to the appearance and function of WHTwiki. It’s an ongoing project.

7. How do you plan to promote the wiki to encourage members to participate?

Stay tuned for news about an upcoming wiki contest.