[SOLVED] What software/tool pages belong on the Wiki?

zd · 2022-01-07 17:09:45

Been using Arch for about a year now and would love to contribute to the wiki. One thing that I've been trying to figure out is what (tools) exactly is appropriate to be written about on the wiki.

As a user, I typically check if there's an Arch Wiki page for the software I'm looking to install to see if there's a package available as well as to look at some basic configuration.

From this, I can assume that any piece of software (that is available in the official repos or in the AUR) that is reasonably popular enough (perhaps mentioned a couple of times elsewhere in the wiki) is a good enough candidate for a new wiki page? And obviously there must be something of substance to talk about--be it configuration, common use cases or commands.

Does that sound reasonable? Am I missing something?

Last edited by zd (2022-01-07 18:37:38)

Slithery · 2022-01-07 17:30:55

Sounds good to me.

Trilby · 2022-01-07 17:41:27

I've seen software not even close to reaching even those standards that has had wiki pages made for it.

The main criteria is that there is someone interested enough to make the page. The storage requirements of an additional wiki page are less than trivial.

Personally, though, I'd hope to avoid loading up the wiki with information that is likely to go stale (too easily / too quickly). So I'd think it'd be best to write articles on software that either have a bit of an active user base or for which you imagine you'll be willing and able to update the page in the future if the software changes sufficiently to require an update.

It's always a shame when someone finds info on our wiki which we as a community take pride in, only to find that the information is horrifically outdated. And our response has to be along the lines of "well, yeah, *that* wiki page was written by someone years ago who never maintained it or inspired interest of others to maintain it."

jasonwryan · 2022-01-07 17:57:21

zd wrote:

And obviously there must be something of substance to talk about--be it configuration, common use cases or commands.

This is the key. One guide would be to look at the List of Common Applications and see what types of software have their own pages. I tend to think of the split as between applications and utilities.

The other key resource is the Help: pages https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Help:E … ting_pages and, more broadly https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ArchWiki:Contributing - improving/maintaining pages is probably more helpful than creating them

Thanks for wanting to contribute!

zd · 2022-01-07 18:37:04

Trilby wrote:

Personally, though, I'd hope to avoid loading up the wiki with information that is likely to go stale (too easily / too quickly). So I'd think it'd be best to write articles on software that either have a bit of an active user base or for which you imagine you'll be willing and able to update the page in the future if the software changes sufficiently to require an update.

That definitely seems important in order to keep things relevant and to maintain the reputation of the wiki. I'll keep that in mind, thanks!

jasonwryan wrote:

The other key resource is the Help: pages https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Help:E … ting_pages and, more broadly https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ArchWiki:Contributing - improving/maintaining pages is probably more helpful than creating them

Thanks for the suggestions and pointers! Yeah, I'll try to improve/maintain pages before I ever attempt to make my own.

I'm satisfied with the responses I've received so I shall mark this as 'solved'.

kynikos · 2022-01-08 09:06:26

zd wrote:

jasonwryan wrote:
The other key resource is the Help: pages https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Help:E … ting_pages and, more broadly https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ArchWiki:Contributing - improving/maintaining pages is probably more helpful than creating them
Thanks for the suggestions and pointers! Yeah, I'll try to improve/maintain pages before I ever attempt to make my own.

Some more relevant guidelines are:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Help:R … ganization
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Help:S … t_metaphor

In general, if the application has good upstream documentation, and popular software often does, you should ask yourself why you'd need to even partially duplicate it in the wiki: I'm not saying that there's never a reason, but you should keep that approach in mind when writing the article, otherwise a simple link to the software's documentation is enough, as extensively done in the already linked "List of applications" article.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-01-07 17:09:45

[SOLVED] What software/tool pages belong on the Wiki?

#2 2022-01-07 17:30:55

Re: [SOLVED] What software/tool pages belong on the Wiki?

#3 2022-01-07 17:41:27

Re: [SOLVED] What software/tool pages belong on the Wiki?

#4 2022-01-07 17:57:21

Re: [SOLVED] What software/tool pages belong on the Wiki?

#5 2022-01-07 18:37:04

Re: [SOLVED] What software/tool pages belong on the Wiki?

#6 2022-01-08 09:06:26

Re: [SOLVED] What software/tool pages belong on the Wiki?

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