Rtips (was Re: [R] ? building a database with a the great examples

[Detlef Steuer]

On 03-Jun-2003 Paul E. Johnson wrote:
> I think there is a lot of merit in this idea.  I think there is a big 
> question about "authentication" and protection of Wikis from vandalism.

Yes. But I`ll do my daily backups, so major vandalism wouldn't be such a
problem. (I hope.)
Personally I don't like to have a list of people who are allowed to edit the
pages. (and I dont like to keep such a list current ...)
Under "preferences" you can choose to give yourself an identity, but that's not
for authentication.

> 
> I've set up Wikis for other projects that I started after Rtips.  I have 
> not seen your Wiki software before,  but it looks pretty nice.  I see it 
> does have diff support, so old pages can be restored, yes?  

Yes! It keeps the diffs for quite some time. So if anyone realizes minor, i.e.
pagewise, vandalism content can be rebuild.

> But it 
> doesn't authenticate users, which causes me some concern.  (I understand 
> the Wiki philosophy that we should not be concerned about 
> authentication, but I've never bought into it all the way).

I think the R community is growing very fast. The work to give
passwords to interested people frightens me. And I would never ask
for such a password personally. I'm willing to write some short note _now_, but
not if I have to wait a day or so to get access. Authentication fits if you
have a well defined group you expect to add contents. 

My position therefore: give it a try. If vandalism turns out to be a problem,
I'll have to think about it.

> 
> I have a TWiki site here:
> 
> http://www.ku.edu/cgiwrap/pauljohn/twiki/view
> 
> This one I hacked up special to use authentication on some pages so that 
> people have to log in before they can edit.
> 
> I had not realized before I looked at your page that Wiki 
> implementations are customized for document format.  For page sections, 
> your Wiki uses
> 
> = aHeading =  
> 
> but Twiki uses
> 
> ---+ aHeading
> 
> That's kindof a bummer.

Yes. I don't understand the authors of wikis, too. I just chose a recommended
 one. If there is anything serious against UseModWiki, _now_ would be the
time to switch. UseMod is very easy to set up, an needs little resources.
These two points are very important for me. 


detlef