MSC Wiki?

I've been a forum member for a couple of days now, and from what I can tell so far the club represents a wealth of knowledge and experience with almost every facet of Nissan Micra modification and maintenance. An almost overwhelming amount, in fact. It seems to be a fair bet that no matter what question a forum user might have, somebody on here will have already tried it and will have answers.

This is a double-edged sword, though, because it means that people tend to ask a lot of questions that have already been answered. A search for "steering wheel" returns over 100 results. Even discounting those threads that concern people buying and selling steering wheels, that's a lot of threads about the same topic. It might be easier, more elegant and more efficient to comb through the threads, pick out the junk, consolidate all of the valuable information into a single page, then title the page "Steering Wheels". That's where the wiki format comes in handy.

The same goes for almost any topic. I notice that the issue of radio codes keeps cropping up... But a wiki would be more than just a collection of infodumps arranged by subject... I've noticed that there are a lot of really good tutorials, projects and advice threads as well. We could go through these, proofread them, and give them a wiki page each. Presto, you have a series of "Semi-official MSC Tutorials" sorted by car model (K10, K11, etc), topic (Trim, Engine, etc) and title.

With all of the information collected in one place like this, a user could search the wiki before making a post. This might cut down on the number of posts asking for the same thing. Also, a wiki would be handy for people to link to when participating in threads, as a readily-available reference. I know that the forum already has a solid search functionality, but a wiki has the potential to be even more efficient. It could also make the forum moderator's lives easier. A lazy poster asking a common question could be directed to the relevant wiki page, the thread could be locked, and eventually be auto-deleted for inactivity. No more clutter!

I understand that I'm a totally new member, and it's a bit rich to come in and start proposing changes to the site. But it wouldn't cost any more bandwidth - wikis tend to have their own hosts. It wouldn't necessarily cost anything at all! Wikia provides a free service. Interested club members would be responsible for maintenance, upkeep, and the regular creation of content. I think it could be a fun ongoing project, and I'd definitely be willing to contribute what editing skills I have.

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

-MT
 
Last edited:
Yes mad_turk I agree, Brilliant idea. It is badly organised when it comes to finding specific information on this forum. It would be nice to have different topics categorised. Although i wouldn't know who to propose the idea to? But you have my support

Sent from my D6503 using Micra Sports Club mobile app
 
OP
OP
mad_turk
Cheers for the support, lads. I'll wait until next payday and I can buy myself a full club membership. Makes me more accountable, since the club will have all my real information and I can be subjected to sanctions if I turn out to be a colossal ****.

Then I'll see about getting an account set up on wikia. I'll call it "uMSCw" - short for unofficial MSC wiki. Anyone who's interested can sort their own accounts out, and I'll authorize them to make and edit articles. I'm thinking that the forum moderators can automatically have moderator status on the wiki.

I don't like the idea of using the club name and logo etc without explicit permission from the governing body. And I don't think it would be appropriate for individual members to have pages dedicated to them - there's too much potential for drama and trolling. If someone has a falling out and decides to get his own back by editing his rival's wiki page so that it just reads "twat", it can easily escalate and damage a community.

If anyone has any experience with editing and creating wiki sites, they're probably more qualified than me to oversee the project. I'm really not the ideal man for the job, but I can always learn by doing!
 
MSC?
Good idea for another database dispensing with the MSC appeal of remote instant social interaction free exchange of experience and information helping each other, among a diverse, inclusive and like-minded group with similar automotive maintenance, repair, modification interests? Long may it continue against its many competitors, fleece book etc? o_O
 
OP
OP
mad_turk
A wiki wouldn't "dispense" with any of the positive aspects of MSC forum membership. On the contrary, working together on a wiki is usually a great way to bring an online community closer together. It wouldn't replace the forums, either. I'm a member of Reddit, and many subreddits operate their own community wikis alongside the usual activity of the subreddit. People don't suddenly stop asking questions and posting answers just because a wiki exists.

A wiki is a way of permanently archiving the very best content generated by a community in a way that is easily accessible and well categorized for reference, while allowing other users to build upon the solid foundation provided by the original poster.
 
sounds like a good idea tbh, wikis are usually an excellent resource. IRC someone tried to start one called k11wiki a few years back? Not sure how far they got with it though
 
Top