14 replies to this topic

[Stuart]

I came up with an idea a while back about having a user edited chemistry and pyrotechnics site, where the information was all user contributed. The purpose would obviously be to provide a place for information related to pyrotechnics and amateur chemistry to be stored. A lot of people all over the internet have a wide range of knowledge, and it would be nice to bring it all together under one roof, rather than being spread out over numerous sites and forums.

For this reason, I've put up a Wiki, that will revolve around amateur chemistry and pyrotechnics. Now, its pretty empty at the moment, as its only me who has worked on it. I'm not really looking to launch it properly just yet, I just want to get an idea of what people would think of such a site, if information would be added, and how many people would browse it.

So, opinions? Good idea, bad idea? Suggestions (e.g. sections)? Would you use it yourself? Is it easy or difficult to navigate? Would you consider contributing to it? Maybe something already exists?

I've posted this on a couple of other chemistry and pyrotechnics forums, and am asking for their opinions too. If the feedback is good, I might try to get it off the ground (obviously with the with help of everyone else).

http://amateurpyro.co.uk/wiki/

Like I said, theres not much on there at the moment. I have a load of chemical pages on there, most without any information. The one that does have some info on though is the Potassium Nitrate page. Thats what I would hope the chemical pages would look like.

Thanks for any opinions


Stuart

[Mumbles]

I've often thought about this and discussed with people but nothing ever came up from it. As some of you may know, I am an admin at apcforum.net, another amature pyro forum. Some of the discussion is not entirely, shall we say, "purely pyro", so some don't come around much. Anyway, we just moved to a new server with our own hosting, where a wiki is actually viable. This resparked my interest, but again nothing came of it. I was also looking at a site called wikibooks for something like this.

Good luck with this stuart. It looks very good. Nice job.

[sizzle]

I think it's quite a good idea actually, a kind of central information base, the only thing is though, if a user contributes incorrect information that someone else uses (e.g. if someone who did not know the effects of Sulphur and Potassium Chlorate posted something about a formula with the two chemicals in) then if someone uses that information they could seriously injure themselves. It would have to be moderated heavily, surely?

[littlejohny]

I think its a great idea, but I agree with Sizzle it would have to have good moderators for it to work

I finally found the sloubility of KNO3

[Stuart]

Moderation is already planned into it. I am currently writing a small contribution guide that lays out some ground rules that people should follow. Some of the issues addressed are things like spelling (avoid dangerous mistakes e.g. Chloride/Chlorate), and that information should be researched a bit before it is added to ensure that it is correct and safe.

If this project does go ahead, then I would ask for some people to help moderate the Wiki. It would involve checking the pages that are being put up, making sure none relevant ones aren't put up, and that the information is safe. If a member was to post some potentially dangerous information, they would be asked to justify why they put it there, as there may be a good reason.

One recent example I could think of is it is believed that PVC does not show up on X-Ray. However, someone recently said that a friend of theirs (who works with X-Ray's), said that PVC does show up. If someone was to post this sort of information, they would be contacted and asked to provide evidence, and in this situation, this would probably do, depending on how well know they are. Obviously, information that is blatantly dangerous will be removed.

Thank you for your comments so far. Keep 'em coming.

[Phoenix]

I think that in principle it should be a good idea, but I can see it tending to attract low, rather than high quality information. However, if people were willing to put in the time to moderate it and ensure all content is of good quality (not only safe, but also useful), then it could work.

As my recent post rate and frequency of logging into the forum no doubt suggests, I have other demands on my time at the moment, so probably would not be very helpful as a moderator. However, I may well find time to write an article or two for it. I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

[sizzle]

Well, I personally would be glad to help out with moderation, I spend most of my free time on this forum and on the internet anyway (sad, I know) so I certainly have the abilibty to moderate daily .

Edited by sizzle, 12 March 2006 - 01:14 PM.

[Stuart]

Having thought about it, I am going to let people start to add content to the Wiki. Although I dont think a huge number of people will contribute, I will continue to type up infomration and put it on there. If anyone feels like contributing, then thank you. However, I ask that you read the ground rules in the contribute section.

http://amateurpyro.c...t_to_Contribute

Thank you to those people who expressed an interested and left their opinion.

[pyrotechnist]

I think this is a great idea just needs good mods and your all set good job .

[PYRODUDE!!!]

Looks like the link doesen't work for me. Shame to, I love searching through other members site's and taking notes. Not exactly plagarism since I'm studying them.

And Stew, I think you should make sizzle a mod.

[Stuart]

Don't worry about the link not working, my host is doing some maintenance on its servers, so the pages could be down for a bit.

[littlejohny]

damn it delete my post I went to reply and walked away for a while and came back and replied, and stuart had told us the problem.

Edited by littlejohny, 14 March 2006 - 08:53 AM.

[Stuart]

Everything seem's to be back up now.

[PYRODUDE!!!]

Ooooooh! I did not know it was Wikepidia. Nice work Stew.

[jamesy]

Hi fellow pyro enthusiasts...

Firstly I would just like to say thank you to all of the people who take the time to post their knowledge on this forum. I can't count the number of times I have used this site for a base of information and a guide to various projects I have embarked on. Good work

This is my first post so I will keep it short. Basically I live in Brisbane, Australia and work professionally as a computer programmer and website developer... As mentioned above I use this site like a man possessed and think it's fabulous. It is full to the rafters with excellent knowledge and very experienced pyrotechnic hobbyists. So to show my appreciation I wanted to give something back and I have done this in the form of making a PyroWiki. It uses the same engine as WikiPedia and it is totally non profit.

Basically there are so many websites out there that are a great sources of information, however it is not always possible to find them. My intention is to make a site that everybody can add to and edit. A website were users can add tutorials, compositions etc.

If you are familiar with WikiPedia then you can see where I am going with this, if you are not then just have a look at what one day PyroWiki will be like www.wikipedia.org

The site is thirsty for information and is a little sparse, however I am frantically adding as much information as possible, so hang in there.

With your support we can all finally have a central place where we can have a Pyrotechnic guide that is safe and accurate, rich in content and more importantly... maintained by you the user.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know it's out there. I hope you like the idea and can see it's potential.

Other than that, thanks and be safe.

Thei website is www.pyrowiki.com

Edited by jamesy, 22 March 2006 - 12:01 PM.