[Search-l] Any updates?

[Rainer Blome]

Thanks for writing your opinion Bani, most of which I agree with.

Bani wrote:
> [wiki editors are] doing the usual every day work of adding content,
> removing spam, and trying to organize things a little better. But the
> most important "deliverable" of this group is the policy discussion at
> http://search.wikia.com/wiki/search:Mini_article/Policy_discussion

Personally, I think this is not the most important deliverable any more.
Admittedly, there is no finished formal policy.  But the existing 
discussion itself together with the odd forum entry or two serves as a 
working, de facto guideline. Given that the frequency of Wiki changes 
has gone down to a single-human level, it is not that pressing.

One of the features that got me interested in Wikia Search is the set of 
principles.  These principles had only the one-line definitions on the 
main page.  Having "Transparency" as a goal but defining it in only one 
line seems unsatisfying to me.  So a while ago, I started talk pages for 
each of the principles, with some starting material.
For example: http://search.wikia.com/wiki/search_talk:Transparency

These policies are more important than the mini article policy, in my 
opinion, because they apply to the entire search infrastructure, not 
just the wiki.

These policies can be developed by a community, but ultimately, they 
need backing by the owners. It might provide some motivation to 
potential policy developers if the owners gave any indication of whether 
the policy development is going in a direction that is acceptable for them.

> Why is it not working as it should? As much as projects like this
> aren't supposed to have hierarquies, when there are that many people
> involved we need some people who have the authority to act as leaders
> to point directions for each group so that they can work together for
> a common goal. A "Benevolent Dictator" wouldn't be a bad idea.

Wikia, and Wikia Search with it, is a corporate endeavor.  The authority 
people are there, but they currently choose not to act, apparently. 
Wikia Search looks free, but isn't.  They can pull the plug at any time.
As long as this is so, I invest only a little time in it.
Some others see this the same way, at least it appears this way to me.
In the long run, we need an independent, not-for-profit search 
infrastructure, similar to Wikipedia.

Rainer