Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #11643
To: beam@corp.sgi.com
From: Justin JAF60@student.canterbury.ac.nz
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 00:26:36 +1300
Subject: [alt-beam] Giant circuit / botpic database site - an alternative approach
Open BEAM Archive
As I mentioned, something I would love to see is a comprehensive archive
of BEAM and related circuits. This hasn't happened for a number of
reasons, with probably the biggest being that no-one has the time and
dedication to maintain and constantly update such a site, for years
unending.
I'd like to propose a possible approach that might be worth looking
into, though the pitfalls are not in my area of expertise, so I reserve
the right for it to be a stupid idea :-)
Put simply, the site is _very_ simple, hosted somewhere like geocities,
and the password is openly available on the BEAM list. Anyone can add
material to pages, update material on pages, add pages, add links to the
new pages from the menu tree pages, etc.
It raises a host of problems (many of which can be limited by having a
private mirror somewhere, acting as buffer and backup), but has
potential for a site that will be constantly updated, if it becomes
_the_ place for circuits (and links, bot pics, etc.). It can become
_the_ place because to my knowledge, there has never been a "_the_
place", and I think that the online BEAM world is such that virtually
all online circuits (or pics, etc.) could be put up with the blessings
of the owners of the material, provided credit is given. If there is an
issue, everyone has the access to make changes.
In all likelyhood it would be abused, but barring a sustained effort to
destroy the site, if it became established then its usefulness and the
BEAM community would ride over the bumps.
What would be needed? (I haven't put a great deal of though into this)
A skeleton site with a branching-tree menu page (in very basic html),
and some pages up.
A guidelines page and (predicted) FAQ. (note - these too can be edited
by the community).
A template page (to make adding material quick and easy).
Some sort of guestbook or polling page (on an independent site?) to
resolve minor conflicts or disagreements via recourse to general
consensus.
IOW maybe 5-6 simple pages total, and we're (potentially) away.
Which leaves the big question - is the BEAM community mature enough to
operate such a site?
The big thing in its favour is that virtually all site modifications
would involve adding material, rather than changing or removing it, thus
disputes should be minimised. I think geocities and probably most
similar providers have extremely easy-to-use real-time page editors (ie
you log on and change the page on the spot, rather than download it,
change it, log on next day, upload it and overwrite every change made
since your download a day ago).
In summary, there will be problems, but I think they will be far
outstripped by the advantages. Furthermore, it's not a lot of work to
get started assuming that at least the _appearance_ of a basic degree of
maturity can be maintained :-)
Is there any support for this concept?
(In particular, I envisage a site that has a huge range of circuits as
well as the information on using them, troubleshooting, peoples
experiences, etc. There are countless sites with photopopper circuits,
but at the ore esoteric end of things, tracking down the existing work
in an area can be quite difficult. However I imaging a lot of people
would be interested in a bot picture database - huge efforts at making
these have been undertaken in the past, but distributing the workload
could offer a serious alternative. A links page is another possible
application).
Comments?
11644 Sun, 12 Mar 2000 08:14:29 -0600 [alt-beam] Re: Giant circuit / botpic database site - an alternative approach beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "Bryan Hengels" It has been done before, not with BEAM though, however another question you should ask is not weather we are mature enough, but if 20+ people can work together without major conflicts.
--
On Mon, 13 Mar 2000 00:26:36 Justin wrote:
>Open BEAM Archive
>
>As I mentioned, something I would love to see is a comprehensive archive
>of BEAM and related circuits. This hasn't happened for a number of
>reasons, with probably the biggest being that no-one has the time and
>dedication to maintain and constantly update such a site, for years
>unending.
>
>I'd like to propose a possible approach that might be worth looking
>into, though the pitfalls are not in my area of expertise, so I reserve
>the right for it to be a stupid idea :-)
>
>Put simply, the site is _very_ simple, hosted somewhere like geocities,
>and the password is openly available on the BEAM list. Anyone can add
>material to pages, update material on pages, add pages, add links to the
>new pages from the menu tree pages, etc.
>It raises a host of problems (many of which can be limited by having a
>private mirror somewhere, acting as buffer and backup), but has
>potential for a site that will be constantly updated, if it becomes
>_the_ place for circuits (and links, bot pics, etc.). It can become
>_the_ place because to my knowledge, there has never been a "_the_
>place", and I think that the online BEAM world is such that virtually
>all online circuits (or pics, etc.) could be put up with the blessings
>of the owners of the material, provided credit is given. If there is an
>issue, everyone has the access to make changes.
>
>In all likelyhood it would be abused, but barring a sustained effort to
>destroy the site, if it became established then its usefulness and the
>BEAM community would ride over the bumps.
>
>What would be needed? (I haven't put a great deal of though into this)
>A skeleton site with a branching-tree menu page (in very basic html),
>and some pages up.
>A guidelines page and (predicted) FAQ. (note - these too can be edited
>by the community).
>A template page (to make adding material quick and easy).
>Some sort of guestbook or polling page (on an independent site?) to
>resolve minor conflicts or disagreements via recourse to general
>consensus.
>
>IOW maybe 5-6 simple pages total, and we're (potentially) away.
>
>Which leaves the big question - is the BEAM community mature enough to
>operate such a site?
>The big thing in its favour is that virtually all site modifications
>would involve adding material, rather than changing or removing it, thus
>disputes should be minimised. I think geocities and probably most
>similar providers have extremely easy-to-use real-time page editors (ie
>you log on and change the page on the spot, rather than download it,
>change it, log on next day, upload it and overwrite every change made
>since your download a day ago).
>
>In summary, there will be problems, but I think they will be far
>outstripped by the advantages. Furthermore, it's not a lot of work to
>get started assuming that at least the _appearance_ of a basic degree of
>maturity can be maintained :-)
>
>Is there any support for this concept?
>
>(In particular, I envisage a site that has a huge range of circuits as
>well as the information on using them, troubleshooting, peoples
>experiences, etc. There are countless sites with photopopper circuits,
>but at the ore esoteric end of things, tracking down the existing work
>in an area can be quite difficult. However I imaging a lot of people
>would be interested in a bot picture database - huge efforts at making
>these have been undertaken in the past, but distributing the workload
>could offer a serious alternative. A links page is another possible
>application).
>
>Comments?
>
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11645 Sun, 12 Mar 2000 10:18:44 -0500 [alt-beam] Re: Giant circuit / botpic database site - an alternative approach "Richard Caudle" This kind of sounds like the Webring. It seems like we could just put up a
links site and have those on the links site put a back to the master list
button on their sites. This way, you would only have to use a single page.
A master gallery could be done in much the same way. A lot less conflict
opportunities in that also.
Cranial victuals
Richard
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