[Search-l] Defining this community (was Re: IRC Meetup for Technical Discussions)

[jer]

> I am still confused about what is the main objective behind the  
> wikia project.

I really want to help bring focus to this, here's the simplest way I  
can state what I believe in about us:

	(consensus?) -- We, the community gathered here at search.wikia.com,  
have a shared belief in a search future built on the four principles  
of Transparency, Community, Quality, and Privacy.

	(next) -- We foster and support any existing related efforts and  
initiate new projects where needed to ensure all necessary open  
foundation is being developed.

	(gradual) -- Many interoperable open search projects mature and  
numerous community efforts spring to life worldwide through using them.

I believe that this isn't about just one project, one index, or one  
wikipedia/google mashup.  We have the chance to collectively build a  
new foundation of thought around search, a deeply principled one that  
has same virtues of openness as the net and web that it's built on.

So... while that sounds great and all, the practical matter is that  
there's a tremendous gap here between some grand vision and an input  
box that does something useful.  The only way I know to cover  
tremendous gaps is one step at a time :)  Assuming the above  
resonates with folks here, the first little steps are the continuing  
discussions here and getting our community wiki to express all this  
better by providing more context and frameworks, IMO.

Jer