Thread:User talk:Zakgreant/MediaWiki Technical Documentation Plan/Some History/reply (2)

I would prefer to keep discussion on-wiki, so that other people can see it and participate, if that's OK. I am aware of the very long thread recently in wikitch-l about too much face-to-face conversation, and not enough transparency and I don't want to exclude other contributors from the discussion. If there are specific things that would benefit from a Skype chat then I'm not totally against it, as long as it is transcribed, so if you feel a strong need then let me know. IRC is another alternative, of course, which would save having to do a transcription... ;-)

I understand your point that you are planning to start with small incremental changes. My worry would be that without a good overview of the project and what, in the long run, you intend to acheive for MW.org as a whole, it could end up being quite wasteful of effort. Make sure you aren't focussing on the climb before you've worked out whether you're on the right mountain!

The CSRF page is probably done 'right', and that highlights that there is probably no single generally-applicable solution. However if you look at it from the point of view of the three groups, the page is very definitely a developer focussed issue - i.e. "How, as a developer, should I code in order to mitigate the chances of CSRF?". It has a much smaller, secondary use for administrators - "What techniques does MW use to ensure my wiki is not vulnerable to CSRF attacks, and is there anything I, as an administrator, should be doing to further reduce this risk?". For the third group - wiki users - it has no relvance whatsoever.

Finally, in terms of the point you make about the help documentation, take a look at Project:PD help and Project:PD help/export. I envisage an MW plugin (or, ideally, core feature) where it can automatically download, install and keep up-to-date the Help: namespace of your local wiki, using whatever language(s) you choose.