[pmwiki-users] Archiving old/obsolete pages

H. Fox haganfox at users.sourceforge.net
Thu Aug 31 17:13:17 CDT 2006


On 8/31/06, Sandy <sandy at onebit.ca> wrote:
> Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
>
> > At some level I almost want it to be just a keyword on the page,
> > such as (:archived:), and we ignore pages with that keyword on it.
> >
>
> I prefer this method. Maybe apply it to entire groups as well as
> individual pages.
>
> The search page could include an option to "include archived / obsolete
> pages".
>
> Reasons:
>
> 1. I've got a slew of pmwiki.org pages bookmarked, and it's on my todo
> list to go through and see if the nifty feature will be useful. If I get
> "page does not exist", it'll be frustrating.

Actually it's likely to *save* you from frustration.  (That's the whole point!)

An archived page is, by definition, a page you probably wouldn't want
to waste your time on.

If one of your links reaches an archived page, then whoever has
archived that page will probably have either
* replaced the old, archived version with a new, improved (refactored)
version or
* left a note explaining that the page has been archived (and why).

I expect most archived pages will be archived because they've have
been refactored.  IIRC this came up when we were completely
refactoring documentation pages.  Some of the old pages might have had
tiny tidbits of useful information, but the new page is really the one
that matters.

> 2. Scrolling past the Version One group every time I search for
> something takes time. (For that matter, scrolling past the Profiles. Any
> chance of putting Documentation and Cookbook groups first?)
>
> 3. People using older versions will want to find the documentation. E.g.
> MailPosts vs Notify.

OTOH isn't it better to have people who are using an old version of
PmWiki (against common IT best practices, btw) find a link in the
Notify documentation that takes them to the archived MailPosts page?

Put another way, why make someone wade through documentation that's
essentially obsolete just in case someone *might* happen to need the
obsolete information?

More information is not always better!

Plus, I think we need a generic solution, not just one for pmwiki.org.

For instance I do work that involves events (gigs / shows -- but there
are lots of similar circumstances such as, say, an architect who has
various projects that come to completion).  Information about current
and future events is very important and needs to be easy to find.
Information about past events will rarely if ever be used.  The
proposed archiving capability would be perfect for that type of page
-- it shouldn't be deleted, but rather "put aside" so it's out of the
way.

Hagan




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