Elliott C. Back: Technology FTW!

Beware: Wordpress Codex an unfriendly playground

Posted in Blogging, Law by Elliott Back on July 20th, 2005.

I had written a few hundred words on the WP Codex about WP under heavy loads when suddenly my page disappeared. Yup, I hit refresh and the page was completely gone–fantastic! I’d gone to all the trouble of creating a nice permaurl to work on that didn’t conflict, called “WPUnderLoad” or something unique, written a quick introduction, and then it all disappeared. I went to my user page, which sadly is public there, and noticed that an uber-excited admin Lorelle decided to yank my page and leave me a nice message something along the lines of:

Welcome to the Wordpress Codex!! Blah blah blah…

You’ve created a nice new page, but no one can get to it. You should blah blah blah…

Come on. I’m still in the middle of editing it, of course no one can get to it. I’m a highly paid software engineer. When I’m done writing the article, I’ll link from the relevant page. Still, our overeager admin sees a new article and immediately trounces it.

So, I decided that working on the codex was a waste of my time, that running analog on over 2 GB of slashdotting log files was just not worth it, for me. Sorry Wordpress, but this time I’m just not giving back. You had a chance at my valuable unique data and analaysis, but like bad breath on a hot date, you blew it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 at 6:24 pm and is tagged with blah blah, software engineer, waste of my time, heavy loads, hot date, bad breath, new article, uber, playground, analog, wp, conflict, 2 gb. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

Viewing 12 Comments

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    As one of many Codex volunteers, I helped you to follow the guidelines for the WordPress Codex. If you somehow feel you have been slighted, singled out, or put upon, I'm sorry. We welcome all contributions to the WordPress Codex and appreciate them all.

    As with every "playground" there are some rules and guidelines. The article was moved according to the WordPress Codex guidelines. When finished and ran past the documentation team to check it for errors like spelling and code, something EVERYONE has to go through, the article is then moved out into the main documentation off your User Subpage. It applies to everyone.

    We use a DRAFT tag on all new documents in the editing phase that states this is a work in process and ask that no one touch it until the author has given permission, something most wikis do not do. Their policy is "once saved, open to editing and changing". Not us. We give the writers and contributors a LOT of freedom to do their work and do it well. We all work as a team to answer writer's questions, and do a lot of housekeeping for writer's who don't want to learn Mediawiki coding but just want to contribute. Every article is a team effort. The WordPress Codex is not your average wiki.

    The issue of user pages being exposed to the public via search engines is something in the process of changing.

    The WordPress Documentation team is very proud of how we have worked overtime to develop the Codex into a valuable documentation resource and online manual. As an online manual, all code and content goes through extensive review to make sure the public gets the best and most right answer we can provide to their support questions. The process of getting there means that everyone plays by the same rules.

    If you are willing to following the guidelines set by the Documentation Team, then we willing welcome all contributions. Moving a document within the Codex to conform to those guidelines certainly did nothing to denigrate, remove or eliminate the work you were doing. In fact, you were thanked and welcomed quite nicely for your contribution.

    Your contributions will continue to be welcome and if you have any other questions, you can direct them to the admin, Carthik, on the Codex.
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    Maybe you two should have a coffe together - or a group hug.

    @ Lorelle: A simple I am sorry would have done - not a big 'this is how we do' club. We are all volunteers in this life.

    @ Elliot: Never mind the Borokraten - just do it again. Would be bad to loose your insights. Don't be a diva.
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    See, this is exactly the problem. A wiki, which is supposed to be an open online community, has become close, rigid, and impersonal. Lorelle reads like a form letter or a robot. When you present as a wiki, you put out the impression that you are soliciting contributions, not forcing people down an artificial pipelining process. Instead of abusing admins with babysitting the assembly chain, the Codex should use software designed for your peculiar needs and stop lying about being a wiki in anything more than the software.
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    I think it's mostly a namespace issue. You can do pretty much anything you want under your User: page, as sub-pages or whatever. That's your playground. However in the root we have finished documentation. Anyone is free to edit or improve it, but people generally check what else is out there before creating an entirely new page. In fact any sort of note or heads-up probably would have pointed you to this page as well:

    WordPress_in_High_Traffic

    The userspace/globalspace rule is born from experience of how terrible the previous attempt at a wiki was.
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    Well, I fully agree with your comment. :-)

    BTW: I visited your blog earlier today and I just wanted to congratulate you on a well presented, and informative resource.

    It's not often that I come across a web site that offers a wealth of quality. ;-)
    Martin (aka POS Software Man)
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    hello elliot,

    thanks to your blog entry I could find some information on how WordPress behaves in high load - and was reminded of my membership in the wiki mentioned. Matt's pointer then probably made me add comments in the discussion of the article he linked - and that you originally wanted to write. So there was some kind of success after all. :)
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    I just wondered how far others would go on this. Seems a long way!
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    I have had my share of spyware and adware and I say never again. I now use different levels of protection.
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    Have you ever lost a computer because of spyware and adware? Well, I have and I know it hurts. It was an expensive wake up call for me.
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    I used to take computer virus and malware for granted and boy! did I pay for it.
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    You know most poeple think computer virus and adware or spyware infections are for the guy next door. Well it is not and I am a living testimony.
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    I can understand the economics behind adware and spyware but what about computer viruses?
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    I really think some of the dumbest marketters are the makers of adware and spyware. With that level of intrusion, I woul never do business with them.
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    With all the snooping and sniffing and spoofing, it's only a matter of when, not if of identity theft.
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    It sure is harder and harder to be safe on the net, with all that malicious softwares.
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    How much protection is adequate? With 3 virus protect and scan softwares, 1 firewall and 1 adware and spyware scan and destroy, you would think that all will be well.
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    I think the cardinal rule on internet safety should be never let your guards down.
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    What about all the vulnerabilities in the IE? Is that realy an oversight or what?
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    nice post
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    I'm new to blogging, but learning the ropes.
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    Ok, Ok I get it now hahahaha. Thanks for the good post. I am getting there heh
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    Elliott, I totally agree about Lorelle's comments.

    She should have archived your material in the right place and written you a nice note telling you where she'd moved it and why.

    I have programmers complaining to me about the quality of the Codex documentation. It seems they need more qualified writers and not less.
 

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