Re: [s-d] Proposal: Remove Revision Numbers

["Mark Walsh" <flutesultan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 11/27/06 8:06:30 AM Wonko wrote:
> Subject: Re: [s-d] Proposal: Remove Revision Numbers
>
> Do we have any programmers with free time in the game? Ideally, we'd  
> make a B Nomic Advanced Technologies Subcommittee (BATS) that would  
> be in charge of A) finding the right technologies for running the  
> game, and B) writing new programs to handle whatever we can't get  
> from existing packages.
>
We do, and I'm one (or at least have written a line of code or two).
I did have a cursory look at the WikiMedia help files.
Perhaps a more in depth study will allow me to determine
whether or not I can contribute to such an effort.
>
> The ideal way to run a nomic, IMHO, would be on a "generalized" wiki  
> (gwiki?). In a gwiki, "pages" would be more than just blocks of text:  
> each page would have some number of subfields, which may be blocks of  
> text, timestamps, author notes, etc. There would be different types  
> of pages from different types of documents - a "proposal" page would  
> have different fields than a "rule" page, for example - and various  
> features could work with only a particular class of document.
>
The object model you once described could suffice if specific fields
for each template type could be selected from an all-encompassing
overall document capable of dealing with every eventuallity. That may
be reaching, but I think we were moving toward such a model near the
end of the previous ERA.
>
> Each rule would be a page, each proposal would be a page, each player  
> would have a page, etc. Revision numbers would be easy to view, and  
> we could very easily add special views that, for example, show the  
> current versions of all rules, show all modifications of a proposal,  
> find all rules whose timestamp falls during nweek 210, etc. The tools  
> for editing pages would also know about the nature of the pages, and  
> so would automatically take care of fields that players don't  
> control, like filling in the "author" field for a proposal or  
> assigning unique numbers to new rules.
>
> As far as I know, nothing like this exists. I started trying to  
> design one long ago, but it basically amounts to writing a whole wiki  
> package, and as such is a monumental programming effort. 
>
>From my experience, any system level programming effort
is monumental. Handled on an incremental level, it is really
just a matter of time. As long as adequate commenting is
maintained (and I admit that I've got code that I can't recall
how it works because of poor commenting) the smaller blocks
and modules of a system effort can eventually be assembled
and integrated into an overall application.
>
> I was trying  
> to cut down on that by building off of MoinMoin, using MoinMoin's  
> text processor to handle wiki-style page markup, MoinMoin's login  
> system to handle player identities, and so forth, but it still proved  
> to be far too much for me to do alone.
>
> If we had a team of programmers, though, I'll bet this could be done.
>
> Other programs that BATS could put together might include
>   * A more advanced email-based dice-rolling engine
>   * A grid-based tracking system for running subgames like The Grid  
> of old
>   * Convenient scripts for people like Triller who would like to  
> easily get a list of the rules that have changed since the last time  
> e printed them
>
> Anyway, this is mostly idle speculation - I don't have any free time  
> right now, so I'd be useless on such a team. But it would be pretty  
> sweet.
>
Perhaps not so. A consultation effort on your part could be quite
enlightening, since you're really the only one who has recently
scripted anything such as you describe above.
> -- 
> Wonko
>
I'll go through the available tools in WikiMedia and see if there's
anything I might be able to contribute to such an effort.

Triller


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