Let.sysops.be: Difference between revisions

{{Wiki

|logo             = http://let.sysops.be/mediawiki/images/b/bf/Lsb_logo.jpg

|wide logo        = y

|URL               = http://let.sysops.be

|recentchanges URL = http://let.sysops.be/wiki/Special:RecentChanges

|wikinode URL     = No

|status           = Spammed

|language         = English

|editmode         = OpenEdit

|engine           = MediaWiki

|license          = Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike

|maintopic         = Information Technology

|statistics URL = http://let.sysops.be/wiki/Special:Statistics

|wikiFactor = 6 <!--Optional. If unknown leave void. See Category:wikiFactor-->

|wikiFactor URL = http://let.sysops.be/wiki/Special:PopularPages

}}(As of: 30 January 2012)<!--manually add or amend date when stats are verified and/or updated-->

'''let.sysops.be''' ('''''lsb''''') deals with the professional issues of the shift to {{tag|Peer-to-peer|P2P}} and to user-authored content (so-called {{tag|Web 2.0}}, [[wiki]]-centric).  Major assumptions include the 'right to leave' hosts without losing data or 'technical barriers' (including the ability to [[fork wiki]]s very easily as guaranteed by [[:Category:Open content|open content]] and open configuration), democratization of naming, flattening of namespaces, and [[:Category:Trolling|trolls]].

The target audience appears to be {{tag|software}} and service architects and perhaps academics and students.  It maintains a [http://let.sysops.be/wiki/Category:Defensible list of articles on topics that are considered defensible], though the references on many articles are weak.  It also maintains a [http://let.sysops.be/wiki/Categpory:Praxis list of practices actually used].  These seem to take some pressure off to allow more speculative or opinionated statements on pages without these tags.  This is one of many {{tag|GreatFeature|good practices}} followed in this wiki.

===Design economics===

LSB covers design issues from a hardcore economic and analytic "systems perspective" with the basic assumption that the fantasy world of the net is merging with IRL politics and economics.  The individuals whose views are cited in depth include Clay Shirky, George Lakoff, Donella Meadows, Jay Forrester, Craig Hubley, Marcus Ranum, Donald Knuth, Bill Joy, Ron Dembo, Bernard Crick, and many others whose expertise spans psychology, management science, organization design, economics and other fields.  To understand a typical page probably requires at least some prior exposure to the fields of study mentioned.  Graduate students who know how to use a search engine and are willing to put a little time into learning unfamiliar terms will be far more likely to get benefit from reading let.sysops.be than casual browsers who have no particular prior exposure to the problems of venture capital, investment theory, language and metaphor theory (for this last, most US readers should see [[DKosopedia]] for the most sophisticated example of a wiki applying these methods directly to familiar issues).

*[http://let.sysops.be/wiki/Mediawiki_gronks a sadly long list of ways MediaWiki confuses users]

For the more political aspects it often defers to definitions at [[Openpolitics.ca]], [[SourceWatch]], [[Embodimentwiki.org]] (an even more sophisticated psychology/biology wiki).  A central political question is who controls the editorial and governance path on a shared web service like a wiki.  The [http://let.sysops.be/wiki/Category:Trolling many articles dealing with trolls and trolling] making the assumption appropriate to P2P, that they must be dealt with as equals.  ''This is why P2P best describes this wiki's purpose.''

*the [http://let.sysops.be/wiki/Open_configuration definition of open configuration] which lays out the terms of reference to integrate P2P with conventional/mainframish web host

==Teaching wiki==

As the material reads like a bunch of notes for a series of graduate courses, it isn't surprising that the wiki recommends picking a particular category and reading everything in it, then asking a lot of questions or adding contrary opinions or references, which the "old trolls" (what the sysops call themselves) will deal with rigorously.  Part of the wiki ideology espoused, aside from generally [[troll-friendly]] policy and shunning of [[sysop vandalism]] and sysop vigilantism, is that '''''a wiki, in order to work, must necessarily focus on the content, and avoid social factors deciding what is discussed or debated.''''' To this end, let.sysops.be encourages anonymous trolls, keeps 'first person' discourse on [[talk page]]s and [[user page]]s, and '''''evaluates every policy from the perspective of disinterested or hostile new users with knowledge worth sharing - the so-called 'new troll point of view'.'''''  Like [[:Category:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]], let.sysops.be remains [[:Category:OpenEdit|open for anyone to edit]], to satisfy the [[scientific method]], in which any contrary evidence is allowed to invalidate any thesis, and even wholly untrusted critics must be heard and answered.  To further enable hearing out minority point of view, [[issue/position/argument]] structure is employed.  Anyone who finds the dominant point of view on a page is making it hard to express his or her argument can re-organize the controversial points into [[logic tree]]s.  If debate gets intense, evidence, sources, and authority handling are all built into the category scheme.   

==License==

The material is redistributable with credit to "Efficient Civics Guild" and link-back to the source under {{tag|Wiki Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike|Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike}} (CC-BY-NC-SA), or other open [[:Category:Wiki License|licenses]] sometimes marked on individual pages.

[[Category:Politics]]

[[Category:Economics]]

[[Category:Issue-focused]]

[[Category:Sysopping]]

[[Category:Best practices]]