Online Building Encyclopedia?

Nathan

How many of you would be interested in helping to create an online building encyclopedia? It would basically be a bunch of factual articles, both long and short, on different subjects within the building industry. It would be well organized and easy to search and find answers in.
Its goal would be to help educate contractors much like this site, but instead of it being interactive it would a static resource. The effort you put into these articles would be well preserved.

This topic was brought up by Glasshousebltr here: http://www.contractortalk.com/f45/good-book-4839/
The idea was originally for a printed book put together by us but I think an online reference would be better and more attainable.

Authors would have to apply to get access to write for the site. They would then have the ability to log into the site and write and publish their own articles. The would get an authors page that would include an image of them and biographical information. You would also have the ability to promote your website and get business if you should desire to do so.

The site would have a few relevant banner ads to support the costs of running it.

This thread is not to announce anything but to think things through. I think it’s a good idea but I want some feedback from you all.

Is this something that some of you would be interested in being a part of?

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Grumpy

Nathan this would be something I'd be interested in. I like writing about all sorts of topics, I always have; but it would be a huge ammount of time investement in each and every article.

What would you be looking for? "The History of Construction in Chicago"? "How roofing has changed in the 1900's"? These sorts of articles?

Nathan

Each person would have to decide how much time they would be willing to give to the project. Some may only have time to write one article and others may have time to write a lot.
I know there are some retired contractors out there who love sharing their knowledge with younger tradesmen. This might be a good way for them to do it.
I'm not trying to be vague here but this could literally be a huge resource covering everything from the history of construction, specific trades, green construction, advancements, etc...

Glad to hear at least one person would be interested

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Cole

You know I am interested.

Lets get this thing together and get started.

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RobertCDF

I would like to read it.... but I dont know enough to write for it.

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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Cole

Sure you do.

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RobertCDF

Ok, I should put it this way... I am not real good at just saying (typing) something out of the blue. Now if someone asks a question I can answer most of the time. But for me to just write an article it would be one sentence. "Just watch me and then do what I do" But really I think it would be a great resource for all kinds of people. From homeowners to contractors alike.

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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Custom Composite Decks

MinConst

I understand Robert's comment. But if you can put questions and answers together I think that would be great. I for one think the idea is good and would like the reference capabilities of it.

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Paul
Minichillo's Construction
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N.E.Bldg&Rest.LLC

I would like to, I would be the "once in a while article" guy.
Maybe the encyclopedia can be catagorized like the forum, trade specific so when a new article is posted it would be easy to add and easy to find.

Just a thought.

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Nathan

It will be catagorized like the forum but will probably have more topics than the forum does. At least in the long run.

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

A+Carpenter

DUDE COME ON. YOU CAN DO IT.

This idea is good.I want to see more replys on this and input

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widco

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CGofMP

The idea is a sound one.

You might also consider the following.

I was once pretty active in the M1 Garand community and one guy [doa of cancer now ] Put together what he called Lane's Tips. Basically what he did was when somehting that was VERY valuable was posted to the Garand forum he would copy it - the question and all the GOOD responses and make what ammounted to a sattelite archive. Sort of a best of the best.

This could fill the gaps between the in depth articles written specifically for the site and the "WOAH COOL!" lightbulb nuggets that get posted here on occasion.

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Jason

I would suggest using a wiki format as well. They are designed to be less stressful on site administrators and more pron to user contributions.

I'm sure VB has a wiki intigration/hack.

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Nathan

We don't need to connect the site with our forum. This site will have its own domain.



Not sure about the wiki vs. regular content site. Editing it will be a pain if we use a typical content site but the wiki sites scare me. Can't anyone just edit anything at anytime?

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

widco

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MinConst

I think this should be written in a controlled manor. Not open for anyone to write anything they wish anytime they want to.
If this is to be useful it will need to be very organized no need for moderation. If an article is written and submitted that should be it. If edits are required it should be done by the author. Not by some Joe that stops in.
I'm sure Nathan will set this up in a professional manor and hopefully it will become the good book that was originally proposed.

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Paul
Minichillo's Construction
Website
I will never leave you hanging!

Nathan

I was thinking of a controlled source as well. The only problem comes in how to proof read the material. I am not an expert in most feilds and I'm not the greatest at grammer to tell you the truth.

We almost need a review board of some sort. hmmmmm

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Jason

In a wiki system you would usually have your 'review board' and then you would have your registered members or anons. You can set it up either way, then you basically can edit as much as you like, and/or even lock sections once they are finished.

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Nathan

So, you can limit who can edit the site with wiki? Are you talking about a system like mediawiki.com? Its an ugly looking script.

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot