Board Thread:Wiki Discussions/@comment-25075055-20140331114355/@comment-1210805-20140407125114

I've been following this discussion for a while and I figure I may as well throw in my two cents.

In my experience on a number of older wikis, the implementation of a chat feature has drawn in new users and generated a great deal of discussion. At first this influx of new people always seems like a great thing. After some time things seem to sour. The users who come for the forums start branching out into the other areas of the wiki, and while some of them have done some good, for the most part they are not exactly productive editors. They're generally not people who come to create a resource, rather they're people who come to voice opinions, and they take this attitude to the articles. It creates a hassle for others and in almost every case, I have seen it drive away valuable long time editors.

Now, I'm not trying to shoot down such an idea, I just have a lot of concerns. There are many wikis that have made such a feature work, but I think that's really the core of the issue. Every wiki is different. What works for one doesn't work for all. What's bad for one can be great for others. This wiki is still a community, regardless of whether there's an open discussion space.

Again, this is just based on personal experience, and I'm sure many have had the exact opposite experience. To be honest I think just about everyone needs to take a few deep breathes and calm down a little.