Help Wanted: finiki needs contributors

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Shakespeare
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Post by Shakespeare »

I don't feel comfortable about deleting that
In that case, pose a question on the discussion page for that article, asking "should this be changed or deleted?" If the discussion page doesn't exist, create it.
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Gus
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Post by Gus »

Shakespeare wrote:I suspect that many people are afraid to tackle a new article because they think there are people here that know more about it. But the sections do not spring fully formed from the brow of Zeus.
I was thinking of starting to fill out the Preferred Shares page last night. I started by looking at your Primer and realized that the job had already been done (and done better than I could do it), but I didn't want to plagiarize you, nor waste my time simply rewriting your work in my own words, sprinkling some reworded Hymas material here and there, to make it look like an original contribution.

May I suggest that you consider cutting-and-pasting your Primer material (on preferreds and other topics) over to finiki and ask lesser mortals (like me) to edit and wiki-ize it?

I don't know if it's possible to set up some draft pages on major topics like this that would be visible only to editors, so that we could work on them out of the public eye until Management deems them ready for release.

Perhaps other FWF notables (eg Bruce Cohen, DanH, NormR, James Hymas, etc) might be persuaded to contribute some previously written, unpublished or published, blocks of copyrighted text and have others shape them into a wiki-publishable format. Attribution to the original author could be noted with a comment.
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Shakespeare
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Post by Shakespeare »

I don't really want to do too much cutting and pasting of the Primer, recognizing that this should be new work. Instead, I suggest that new entries be created with a brief discussion and a reference - certainly to Wikipedia, but to my site if that's what people think is reasonable. Others can add additional lines or info as we go. (I'm doing a start on gold at the moment, even though I don't know anything about it. :wink: )

Incidentally, the "commodities" entry is blank..... :wink:

Added: You can easily create a page (called, say, Gus's page) that isn't linked to anything and doesn't have a category, that you could use to edit your drafts. It would still be open to view by others. If you want to issue finished articles, you can do them on a WP, cut and paste, and reformat. I'm doing on-line editing; I think parvus is pasting in an offline write.
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Gus
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Post by Gus »

Shakespeare wrote:I don't really want to do too much cutting and pasting of the Primer, recognizing that this should be new work. Instead, I suggest that new entries be created with a brief discussion and a reference - certainly to Wikipedia, but to my site if that's what people think is reasonable. Others can add additional lines or info as we go. (I'm doing a start on gold at the moment, even though I don't know anything about it. :wink:
Fair enough, I understand why you want this project to be fresh material. I just fear that it will take far too long to get to a critical mass because of the limited number of editors who have the time and the ability to provide original content. Maybe I'm wrong and it will gradually snowball as Pickles suggested.

I'll certainly add (or edit) what I can when I have time. I think this a great project and it's a privilege to be able to contribute the odd brick to its construction.
Money ain't got no owners, just spenders. Omar Little
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Shakespeare
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Post by Shakespeare »

Gus wrote:I just fear that it will take far too long to get to a critical mass because of the limited number of editors who have the time and the ability to provide original content.
If you examine my trial main page you will find several articles in reasonable shape.
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Post by parvus »

Pickles wrote:
Shakespeare wrote:I suspect that many people are afraid to tackle a new article because they think there are people here that know more about it. But the sections do not spring fully formed from the brow of Zeus.
Your suspicion is probably correct; it's a lot less daunting to add a sentence or two to an existing article than to write the first draft.
Admittedly, it does take a little bit to get started. Sometimes I add headers, sometimes a sentence, sometimes a paragraph.

I do so only in confidence that if someone spots a great whopping error (or even many tiny ones), they will jump in.

The tricky part, really, is not the things that you didn't know that you didn't know, nor the things you knew you didn't know: it's the things you know you know, but because you know them, you think everyone else does too. :wink:
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Imagefiniki, the Canadian financial wiki Your go-to guide for financial basics
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Post by yielder »

Norbert Schlenker wrote:I've hidden this forum from all but editors.

I had hopes that an open discussion would entice people to join in but we seem to have run out of interested parties. (OTOH, having been able to see it for a while and now being unable may entice a few. ;))

If you hide it, they'll never find it. Let's open it up again and extend write privileges to everyone at FWF. We can indicate that some chatter is fine here but that this is a working forum so idle chatter is discouraged (perhaps even actively, if needed). I would rather we be inclusive rather than exclusive.
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Post by yielder »

OK, the forum is open to all FWFers to both read and write. It's visible to the general public but cannot be read by the general public.
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Post by Flights of Fancy »

I'd like to apply to be an editor. I'm not the most prolific poster here, but I do have a CFP designation and a very strong interest in financial planning, including budgeting, household finances, income splitting, planning for education, etc.

If my application is approved, I thought I might flesh out the RESP section first, adding a section on alternative ways to save for a child's education.

Now what?
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Post by yielder »

Flights of Fancy wrote:I'd like to apply to be an editor. I'm not the most prolific poster here, but I do have a CFP designation and a very strong interest in financial planning, including budgeting, household finances, income splitting, planning for education, etc.

If my application is approved, I thought I might flesh out the RESP section first, adding a section on alternative ways to save for a child's education.

Now what?
Welcome aboard. 8)

We'll enable your access to finiki. Then you can edit to away on Your Own Personal Scratch Pad. You can learn as you go while you edit. When the page is more or less complete, it can go into production. Before you start, you should read through Guide For Contributors.
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Post by DanielCarrera »

I cannot speak for other people, but in my case I have been put off a bit from contributing because I think that the non-commercial clause will limit the usefulness of the material (e.g. imagine a financial adviser giving every client a booklet that is mostly a print out of finiki - this is a commercial use).

Yielder suggested I write here to request access to finiki. I would be willing to maintain a page reviewing free and open source personal finance software.
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Post by yielder »

DanielCarrera wrote:I would be willing to maintain a page reviewing free and open source personal finance software.
It appears that you have access to finiki. A page is ready and waiting for you. I wouldn't sweat the non-commercial clause. We'll sort it out. And I certainly wouldn't hold back writing until it is sorted out. wiki's evolve concurrently rather than sequentially.
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Post by Mebro »

What's in it for the editor?
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Post by cardhu »

I'll sign on as an editor, if you'll have me.
I'm not familiar (yet) with wiki editing, so I'll take it slow to begin.
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Post by Shakespeare »

I'm not familiar (yet) with wiki editing, so I'll take it slow to begin.
Just start typing. :wink: The biggest problem for newcomers is usually the reference format, which is, er, finiki and takes a while to figure out. But if you put a raw hyperlink in the text one of us can fix it up until you sort out the format.
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Post by cardhu »

OK, sounds good. Thanks.
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Re: Inviting finiki editors/ Hi, I'd like to be an editor

Post by FinEcon »

I would like to request access to finiki for helping out with additions to the dividend cycle page.
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Re: Inviting finiki editors/ Hi, I'd like to be an editor

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Bump -- a reminder to those who might be interested, there is a Guide For Contributors - finiki
Imagefiniki, the Canadian financial wiki New editors wanted and welcomed, please help collaborate and improve the wiki.

Normal people… believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet. – Scott Adams
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Re: Inviting finiki editors/ Hi, I'd like to be an editor

Post by Shakespeare »

Your user account has been created. I will send you the details by PM.
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Re: Inviting finiki editors/ Hi, I'd like to be an editor

Post by NorthernRaven »

I'd like to request an editing account on finiki - there were a couple of small corrections I was going to make. I've used the MediaWiki software before.
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Re: Inviting finiki editors/ Hi, I'd like to be an editor

Post by Shakespeare »

An account for Northern Raven has been created. Check your PM for the password. Please sign in, change the password, and add your e-mail.

Thank you for your effort.
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Re: Help Wanted: finiki needs contributors

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

For a view of what's been going on you might want to read Recent changes - finiki. How often do you find the forum discussions seeming to be pointing back to previous topics that serve as useful references. How often do you think it would be useful to have those essential points summarized in one place? Could finiki be the answer?

It doesn't take any special skills to be a finiki editor. If you can edit posts on FWF and have learned about [quote], and [youtube], then you can easily pic ... t - finiki and User list - finiki. Heck you might ever find a long forgotten user ID has been created for yourself.

Let's build finiki beyond that foundation, to a comprehensive encyclopedia of financial subjects written from a Canadian perspective.

Added: Perhaps a new finiki tagline is needed, something along the lines of "Add your wisdom, help fix our typos."
Last edited by Peculiar_Investor on 15 Jun 2012 23:44, edited 2 times in total.
Imagefiniki, the Canadian financial wiki New editors wanted and welcomed, please help collaborate and improve the wiki.

Normal people… believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet. – Scott Adams
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Re: Help Wanted: finiki needs contributors

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

A real-life example of editing finiki, in the hope that others will see how easy it was. Here are the fishing instructions.

In http://www.financialwisdomforum.org/for ... 54#p455854, ghariton provides an education viewpoint on the subject on risk in the context of investing in bonds. I checked Conventional Bonds - finiki and risk isn't covered. I thought it would be worthwhile for this to be included in finiki, so ...
  1. I clicked quote on http://www.financialwisdomforum.org/for ... 54#p455854 (keeps link's intact -- there is a slight difference in tag formats, easily fixed as necessary), selected the post's text and copied to clipboard.
  2. Went to finiki page, clicked Edit
  3. Found the place in the Wiki article that seemed like a good insertion point, pasted from clipboard.
  4. Added section header, level 2 section header syntax is

    Code: Select all

    == Risk ==
  5. Changed your numbered sections to level 3 section headers, syntax is

    Code: Select all

    === Credit Risk ===
  6. Found first personal references and changed to third personal or alternative, removed personal opinions i.e. "(although I suspect that some of those are wrong)"
  7. Added reference, syntax is <ref>ghariton ... </ref>
  8. Click the Preview button to check the appearance and flow with rest of article. Looks OK.
  9. Add Summary indicating why I was updating the page, hit Save Page.
The Wiki software looks after things like section numbering, generating Table of Contents, etc.

Total time, maybe 5 minutes or so. Look at http://www.finiki.org/index.php?title=C ... oldid=3409 and you can see exactly what changes were made.

As a by-product of my wiki updates, Shakespeare notices he can extend the article further, so adds http://www.finiki.org/index.php?title=C ... oldid=3412. This type of "piling on" is typical of Wikis and central to the process of editing and improving them. So please, Add your wisdom, help fix our typos.
Last edited by Peculiar_Investor on 07 Feb 2014 07:04, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: replace old domain name with www.financialwisdomforum.org to reflect new domain name effective 19-Jan-2014
Imagefiniki, the Canadian financial wiki New editors wanted and welcomed, please help collaborate and improve the wiki.

Normal people… believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet. – Scott Adams
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Help Wanted

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

For those a bit hesitant to become editors, how about helping out in other ways, say as a proof-reader, or idea generator?

Want to help by proof-reading? The recent changes page is conveniently accessed from finiki's sidebar (displayed on the left side of the screen). It lists the most recent edits made to pages in finiki. Using this page, you can monitor and review the latest contributions, to discover and report (or correct) mistakes.

Got ideas? finiki contributors "tag" articles that need improvement, you could check those marked as placeholders or could be expanded further.

If you've discovered mistakes (spelling, grammar, formatting, awkward wording, etc) or got ideas to improve any of the articles, post them here and a finiki editor will likely soon incorporate them into the article. If you have an account on finiki, post your comments on the articles' discussion page.

finiki needs you help to continue to improve and expand as a collaborative enterprise by the members of the Financial Webring Forum.
Last edited by Peculiar_Investor on 01 Aug 2012 23:19, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Add information about posting on discussion page
Imagefiniki, the Canadian financial wiki New editors wanted and welcomed, please help collaborate and improve the wiki.

Normal people… believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet. – Scott Adams
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Re: Help Wanted: finiki needs contributors

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Not quite finiki for Dummies but Help:Getting started - finiki, the Canadian financial Wiki.

Any feedback on what's holding you back from contributing to finiki is also welcome.
Imagefiniki, the Canadian financial wiki New editors wanted and welcomed, please help collaborate and improve the wiki.

Normal people… believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet. – Scott Adams
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