Wiki community

The wiki community is the group of active members associated with a wiki. Wikis are not just software systems, but also have:

• a wiki community - a community of users
• wiki rules - codes of conduct for the community
• themes - the themes or topics for discussion within the community

Some wikis are intended to focus discussion around specific topics, and users who drift off from the topic are warned that they are off topic. Some users either accidentally or deliberately set up pages within a wiki which are for their own private purposes (or that of a group), and such a set of pages is often called a walled garden. Within some wikis the community rules do not permit the setting up of such walled gardens, and other members of the wiki community may delete the pages.

Where a user or group of users want to set up wiki pages of their own, if this is not permitted within a wiki in which they (are trying to) participate, they should make investigate the use of wiki hosting or wiki farms.

The wiki community can actively promote the development of a wiki (such as Wikipedia) by:

• creating new pages
• reformatting old pages
• adding new information to pages
• correcting incorrect information on pages
• discussing the nature of the content on content pages with other users

Wikipedia is an example of a wiki which has a strong wiki community, in which many constructive examples of user behaviour can be seen. Occasionally some users are disruptive, and examples of disruptive behaviour include that of wiki vandals.