Questions and answers about the Wiki.
This topic contains the following:
From the Wikipedia article
Frequently asked questions, or FAQs are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be frequently asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. Since the
acronym FAQ originated in textual media, its
pronunciation varies; "facks," "fax," "facts," and "F.A.Qs." are commonly heard. Depending on usage, the term may refer specifically to a single frequently asked question, or to an assembled list of many questions and their answers.
This FAQ is focused on the
TechNet Wiki. It covers questions on the technology and implementation of the Wiki, content types and coverage, community and community health and vision.
Wikipedia is focused on academic research, the TechNet Wiki is focused on technical documentation. The purpose of academic research is to argue a conclusion based on evidence. If the source of the evidence is not authoritative, then the argument is undermined.
Technical documentation, on the other hand, is intended to solve a problem by providing a path to understanding the technology. In most cases, it doesn't matter as much whether the source of the information is authoritative
as long as it is demonstrably correct. We test this in the practical application of the information. On the TechNet Wiki the people who actually use the information can refine the information (edit the wiki article ) based on their applied experience.
A certain amount of authority will then adhere to those who do that refining, but only as the community agrees that the refinement is accurate by not further correcting it. The focus of TN Wiki is technical content for IT Pros and Devs that relates to Microsoft
products. Microsoft employee participation on Wikipedia content about Microsoft or competitor technologies are not seen as peer-to-peer or "community." The members of the product teams at Microsoft who participate in forums, blogs, twitter, facebook and other
social sites can collaborate with customers on the TN Wiki more effectively than on Wikipedia. In addition, wikipedia has a commitment to a NPOV (neutral point of view). TNW has a commitment to a balanced technical point of view. On the TNW, the value of the
technical information is prized above the source.
The goals for the TNWIKI are:
On the first bullet, Umair Haque puts it well in his
efficient community hypothesis...
"The point of communities is, when you think about it, to ensure that people and organizations don't just get any old information — but the right, the best information. They should filter out bad, inaccurate information from unreliable sources and replace
it with its opposite."
Blogs, forums and newsgroups are effective for the purposes they serve. All of these "content sources" fit together in a resource model shown below, where content can start in one place, and move to another as the needs for that content change.
For example, a Microsoft blog post that talks about a certain implementation may garner several valuable comments about additional hardware that the post also works on. However, a search for "all the hardware that the scenario works on" will not bring back
the blog post. A reader of the blog post must read the entire post and then scroll chronologically through the comments to compile the list. On the wiki, you can start with the compiled list, add others, and link to blog post. Then, a search for "all the hardware
that the scenario works on" is more likely to find the wiki article. Like a blog, wiki authoring is easy and fast. Like the forums, the history and "reputation system" on the wiki help the reader of the article make judgements about the level of "trust" to
place in the content.
For most customers, TechNet Wiki will be a new and dynamic source of technical content to help them achieve success with our core scenarios like Troubleshooting and How To. But for contributors, TechNet Wiki will also be a powerful form of engagement with
Microsoft and a new way to continue driving up IT Pro reader satisfaction (measured on TechNet and MSDN by the article ratings and surveys), and building community with each other. Many feel that the Microsoft documentation on TechNet and MSDN is adequate.
Others feel differently. The trouble is that TechNet and MSDN articles start going out of date as soon as they are published. Even if our documentation team had endless resources to keep the documentation up to date with all of the cool blog information,
KB articles and newsgroup discussions, there is often a considerable lag between when a content "bug" is filed and when the documentation is updated.
The Wiki accommodates nearly instantaneous publication of "addendum" documentation which in and of itself is a significant benefit to using a wiki to publish content.
or un-tested. If you are concerned about the reliability of the content on the wiki, make use of the
History tab on each article to review who made changes and what was done to the article. You can tell Microsoft employee members of the wiki by the addition of the letters MSFT after their username AND a contact e-mail address that ends in
IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF SOFTWARE, DOCUMENTS, PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SERVICES, OR INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM THE SERVICES.
Consider the following story:
It isn't. The TN Wiki is an investment in building community with customers.
The users are. Microsoft is trusting the members of the TN Wiki community to take care of this and do the right things.
Users can use the
Provide feedback or report inappropriate content button to report abuse. Microsoft employees will investigate the report and take appropriate action.
You do not need to contribute to be a member of the community. If you read content on the Wiki, you are contributing to the success of the content and the relevance of the TechNet Wiki. You are encouraged to contribute if:
It's a community collaboration tool on TechNet, like Blogs, Forums, or the Script Gallery.
Due to various reasons, there is not the means to create a definite and committed release schedule. Despite this challenge, the team finds opportunities to update the tool with new features and fixes as the TechNet Wiki community grows and matures.
Some of the recently released features include:
How to Join wiki article
How to Contribute wiki article for some ideas to get you started.
If you are using the online editor, save often. To stay informed about changes to your article, use the "Email me updates to this page" option near the Save button.
You cannot lock content to prevent changes. This is a wiki. A very small number of articles, such as the code of conduct, are locked by the wiki mods. If you would like to suggest changes to these "core
docs", please enter them
over in the forum for consideration on the next update cycle. If you want to post content that should never ever be changed and improved by the community, think twice. The wiki is *not* the place for content you wish to never change.
Provide feedback or report inappropriate content button to the comment and reason you want it deleted. Microsoft employees will investigate the report and take appropriate action.
How to Contribute wiki article contains the following advice:
"NOTE: Do not just copy/paste from TechNet/MSDN or other websites, or blogs or other sources of material that you did not create, and then save this without any editing, rewriting and improvement by you. "
Copying from your own blog (without any "editing,rewriting and improvement" is not plagiarism. However, it does not add value to the wiki. Use the wiki to post an older blog post that you want to add to, change around, or improve in some other way that adds
value to the technical community.
Not yet, but this is a feature request for the next development cycle. You can review the feature requests on the
Not at this time.
You can see the council member names, meeting minutes, and future meeting agendas at:
At this time the TechNet Wiki does not support Silverlight.
This article is also available in other languages, including Portuguese.