User:Brian7632416

Brian in San Diego. Always wanted to do a wiki ever since I discovered Wikipedia years ago. But I could never get other (non-MediaWiki) software (e.g., FlexWiki) installed correctly on Windows-hosted (ASP) remote servers, and I had a crappy hosting service anyway (1&1 - shudder). So I put aside my never-ending ASP woes and tried a new Linux-based hosting service (Servage.net) that, like all the other hosts, claimed ease of use and auto-installation of scripts, but this time including MediaWiki. And I'll be darned their auto-installer installed MediaWiki in about 11 seconds flat, and perfectly, even though I have multiple domains hosted in a shared environment, which 1&1 just couldn't keep straight.

And lo and behold, MediaWiki just worked right from the git-go, and was very stable. MediaWiki.org's documentation pages were easy to understand in most cases, and I was up and running with my recipe wiki DishiWiki pretty fast. I still have a lot of questions about MediaWiki and php in general, but I'm learning as I go, mostly by trial and error, which is how I do things anyway.

So why a tired old wiki for recipes, you ask? Well, I like food, and I'm a good cook, and I like PCs and Web sites, so why not? But there's something special about a recipe wiki. Have you heard the old saying, "Too many cooks spoil the broth?" Well, I'm about to find out with DishiWiki. Sort of a social experiment. I don't make a point on the wiki that users or passersby can edit recipes, but as you all know, they can.

Will the recipes get edited to "perfection?" Or will they turn to slop? Will anybody even DARE to edit a recipe that is attributed at the bottom? Or will they repress their urge to edit and merely add comments on the recipes' talk pages? I, for one, find this idea fascinating and can't wait to see what happens.

Currently, though, the wiki is new, and the members (all 7, ha!) tend to be mature women and "country cooks," but that's okay. I'm trying to get some of my contemporaries involved to lighten up and freshen up the fare and add some variety from casseroles and brownies.

It's my understanding that all recipes, by their nature (directions) are not copyright-able and are therefore in the public domain, and I don't want to just copy and paste all the other recipes available everywhere, but I do believe I need to help "seed" the wiki with some recipes that are already "out there," because -- well, somebody's got to get the darn thing off the ground. (If you've got a minute, please go add a recipe and a talk page for your recipe!)

Anyhoo, that's my wiki story, and I'm sticking to it. Brian7632416 01:31, 17 March 2008 (UTC)