So I click on the Extreme Programming Wiki and what do I see?
I see a flat presentation of a long list of comments. This looks surprisingly like our despised bboard style of presentation.
I even have to scroll to the end to see the last addition to the Wiki.
Now, if I say "edit" I get to edit everyone's posts in a text box, rather than just add one of my own. That's a difference. I would guess that editing other people's posts is normally considered poor manners, though, and that in this particular example is rarely done.
So this example is just a discussion forum in disguise. The formatting's a little tighter and you can edit other people's posts, other than there's no real difference, at least on the surface. There are some shorthand text entry conventions that make typing a bit more convenient, but nothing earth-shaking.
I'm not saying the easy-to-edit collobarative file model isn't a good one. It can be for some things. The file storage area of this site allows for collaborative files, it just doesn't include the easy-to-edit part. Downloading, editing, and uploading is a PITA and the Wiki notion is much more convenient.
I'm just saying that this particular example is a poor one. It is being used in a way that is only slightly different than the current bboard forum we have here.
I would *hate* to see a wiki started up that degenerated into yet another bboard-style on-going discussion ala the ExtremeProgramming example given above. That would simply be splitting discussions into two, unrelated portions of the site (or two separate sites). All pain, no gain.
