Etiquette for adapting external articles into wiki pages?

frix · 2015-08-28 12:15:53

Hello all,

I just recently completed the installation of an IPSec/IKEv2 VPN using Strongswan, thanks to this great tutorial. The wiki has very little info on IPSec/IKEv2 servers, besides a page in Chinese that is not nearly as complete as the article I used.

I'm going to ask the author if he's okay with adapting his article on the wiki, but before that I have a few questions :

As for the title page, should I use the name of the server software (Strongswan), or a more generic name like the existing Chinese page (IPsec-based VPN Server)?
How to handle the existence of duplicates articles -- the one in Chinese and the one I want to add?
Are there any precedents on adapting external articles like this? Any potential issues I should be aware of?

Thanks!

Last edited by frix (2015-08-28 12:18:41)

kynikos · 2015-08-29 02:50:01

Hi, since you probably want to write instructions for both server and clients, I suggest you use the "strongSwan" title. The Chinese article should be moved accordingly, and interlanguage links should be created between the two. I would also move L2TP/IPsec VPN client setup, which uses Openswan, to the "Openswan" title for consistency, and mark it for expansion on server setup. The strongSwan and Openswan articles should be interlinked with a Related articles box.

Remember that on the ArchWiki we try our best to avoid duplicating information between articles, so use links to already existing content whenever possible; this is ideally also extended to well-maintained external sources (see Help:Style#Hypertext metaphor), so you may want to still refer to the original tutorial, and only write Arch-specific adaptations on the new page. This is the policy commonly followed in these cases, just to also explicitly answer your question on precedents.

frix · 2015-08-29 11:59:13

Hi,

Thanks for the answer! I think I'm going to write a short but working version of the tutorial just for future reference in case the blog post disappears, but still leave a link to the original for more information.

The L2TP/IPsec article actually deals with a slightly different kind of IPsec VPN, which uses an unencrypted L2TP tunnel (similar to PPTP) encapsulated inside IPsec in transport mode. The tutorial I linked to, on the contrary, just uses IPsec in tunnel mode, without having to use an additional L2TP daemon. Both Openswan and strongSwan have a very similar syntax and are able to run both kinds of IPsec VPNs. That's why I was a bit unsure about how to name the page. Or should I create an "IPsec" page that explains how all this works at a lower level, and then link to other pages for server-specific configuration?

kynikos · 2015-08-30 03:15:40

I see, I didn't look too far into either articles, in this case maybe it's better if you start under the "IPSec/IKEv2 VPN" title then (I'd leave "server" out, since as I said I suppose you want to at least mention client configuration). Once the content is there we can see whether and how to fit it better with other articles, or if some duplicated content can be indeed aggregated in a separate, more generic article. I wouldn't go too much into low-level explanations, since explaining how an IPsec connection works in general is outside the scope of the wiki.

frix · 2015-09-13 21:10:22

Well, it took some time, but the StrongSwan page now contains instructions on how to configure the server, mostly copy-pasted and trimmed from the article I linked to earlier. I intend on adding more on client configuration and troubleshooting tips later, is that okay if I leave them as a stub?

kynikos · 2015-09-15 14:53:40

Thank you, it looks good, I've made a few style adaptations, it's perfectly fine to mark sections with the Expansion template (the Stub template is being deprecated).

Arch Linux

#1 2015-08-28 12:15:53

Etiquette for adapting external articles into wiki pages?

#2 2015-08-29 02:50:01

Re: Etiquette for adapting external articles into wiki pages?

#3 2015-08-29 11:59:13

Re: Etiquette for adapting external articles into wiki pages?

#4 2015-08-30 03:15:40

Re: Etiquette for adapting external articles into wiki pages?

#5 2015-09-13 21:10:22

Re: Etiquette for adapting external articles into wiki pages?

#6 2015-09-15 14:53:40

Re: Etiquette for adapting external articles into wiki pages?

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