Quote:
Originally Posted by devwild
Well if you spell something wrong....
That's actually part of the reason I use google to search wikipedia ("wikipedia blah" usually works out). I'll get google's spelling correction and results sorted based on their algorithms. Plus sometimes I get relevant sites outside of wikipedia.
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But that's what I mean, in response to both yours and the previous question. You end up having to use a search engine...to search a search engine. Just because the Wiki engine has no "human interface" factors built into it, as Google's does.
For an online "encyclopedia" that's just poor design. You come for information but the site has no ability to cross-reference that information based upon relevance. Only direct hits. Even spelling does not get you where you want to go.
Enter in "South Street" and you get one answer, and you are taken directly to their entry for "South Street". What about "South Street Seaport"? What about other famous South Streets? What about
references to South Street throughout history, any events or such?
Nope. One article, taken directly there - no choice.
And the GUI web interface is not much better, the "MediaWiki" as michaelconnor wrote. If you are in the article clicking on "history" brings you somewhere. If you are in "Discussion" clicking history brings you...somewhere else. If you want to leave feedback you must first click "Discussion", which does not match the FAQ location-told entry of "Talk", then click "Edit this page" - which is counter-intuitive because you don't want to edit the "Talk", you want to "talk" yourself.
The entire interface experience is counter-intuitive to the typical human operating process. It is designed to make computer-friendly databases of both article and "forum" entries, but as an encyclopedia it's first methodology should be to make the information easy for
humans to access, not the computers.
That, along with Wiki information's poor confirmation / accreditation (anyone can edit, but everyone is expect to in order to have the information in the first place (but people come to learn first, not to share) and articles can be completely wrong without proof (see:
The Register's Wiki complaints)) and the entire Wiki prototype is within question (again, as
The Register constantly notes)