LocalWiki
Learning and science
local wiki platform
SHOW HN2015
83points
29comments
#319of 2,565 in 2015
Top 13%of 2015 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
12 positive, 5 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 3 critical, out of 20 comments about the project. Thread score +0.41.
Idea: 8 for, 3 againstDesign: 3 for, 0 againstExecution: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Neutral, neighborly, collaborative approach to local knowledge
From 2 comments
For inactive regions, I'd rather see LocalWiki put up a signpost in the form of "This region got a start with five articles and two contributors but hasn't been edited in six…
britta on HNI love this idea. I have had a hard time going to cities I'm unfamiliar with and not knowing a little bit about the important and not-so-important landmarks. The problem I have…
numbers on HN
Useful for finding local info, e.g. Davis wiki replacing Yelp
From 2 comments
Great platform. Used this religiously while in college at Davis. Luckily, there was an active community of people updating the pages, which allowed the Wiki to essentially…
erader on HNI live in Ann Arbor, have my whole life, and am very glad for the wiki we have on LocalWiki. It's been extremely helpful to me a few times now. :)
johnmaguire2013 on HN
Editor toolbar and map page are well done
From 2 comments
the local wiki editor tool bar & text area I've always thought was done very well. It's kind of a stand out, yet hidden feature that not a lot of wikis do as well. Simple but…
michaelbuddy on HNNice use of OpenStreetMap on the map page. I wonder if the system utilises the collection of places, buildings, pubs, shops etc that is also mapped. Edits - looking at it in a…
chippy on HN
Objections
Many town wikis were started and abandoned
From 1 comment
LocalWiki has awesome potential but they're facing two large problems. If you browse you're going to see that in the majority of the towns someone signed up, started and then…
rmason on HN
Weak mobile support
From 1 comment
LocalWiki has awesome potential but they're facing two large problems. If you browse you're going to see that in the majority of the towns someone signed up, started and then…
rmason on HN
Overlapping locality pages cause fragmentation
From 1 comment
Also a potential fragmentation problem: "Vancouver": https://localwiki.org/vancouver/ "Metro Vancouver": https://localwiki.org/van/ There's a genuinely hard problem in trying to…
jewbacca on HN
Transient news like sirens does not suit a wiki
From 1 comment
> - Anybody know why I heard 50 sirens at 2am last night? This doesn't seem like the sort of thing that belongs on a wiki, being incredibly transient by nature. Another user…
pavel_lishin on HN
Requests
Mobile app
From 2 comments
I've recently spent some time in a small beach community, where they set up a Facebook page for the village. It's extremely active, from lost cats, local store offerings,…
marquis on HNLocalWiki has awesome potential but they're facing two large problems. If you browse you're going to see that in the majority of the towns someone signed up, started and then…
rmason on HN
Prompts to revive stagnant local wikis
From 2 comments
For inactive regions, I'd rather see LocalWiki put up a signpost in the form of "This region got a start with five articles and two contributors but hasn't been edited in six…
britta on HNthe local wiki editor tool bar & text area I've always thought was done very well. It's kind of a stand out, yet hidden feature that not a lot of wikis do as well. Simple but…
michaelbuddy on HN
Questions
How will it differ from Wikitravel
From 2 comments
How do you plan to differentiate from http://wikitravel.org? Is http://localwiki.org supposed to be more localised / higher resolution? Targeted at locals instead of tourists?
olalonde on HNWhat do you think of http://wikitravel.org?
walterbell on HN
How will it avoid commercial bias
From 1 comment
How do you plan to avoid a commercial focus/ bias?
pervycreeper on HN
Alternatives named
Facebook groups
From 2 comments
I've recently spent some time in a small beach community, where they set up a Facebook page for the village. It's extremely active, from lost cats, local store offerings,…
marquis on HNAs someone who blissfully retired from Facebook years ago (for all the usual cranky reasons regularly cited on HN), I really hope Facebook doesn't come to fill this niche. But I…
klenwell on HN
Subreddits
From 2 comments
Not that I don't also want this LocalWiki thing to succeed, but you should definitely check out your local subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/subreddits/search
jewbacca on HN> - Anybody know why I heard 50 sirens at 2am last night? This doesn't seem like the sort of thing that belongs on a wiki, being incredibly transient by nature. Another user…
pavel_lishin on HN
Nextdoor
From 1 comment
Nextdoor <https://nextdoor.com/> is exactly this!
msutherl on HN
EveryBlock
From 1 comment
EveryBlock tried to be that gathering-together service, but it got shut down: http://www.niemanlab.org/encyclo/everyblock/ + http://www.holovaty.com/writing/rip-everyblock/ "We…
britta on HN
Wikitravel
From 1 comment
What do you think of http://wikitravel.org?
walterbell on HN
Edhat
From 1 comment
There are some great hyper-local sites. There was one I loved in Santa Barbara (http://www.edhat.com) that focused on hyper-local news. They would track police scanners, daily…
madsushi on HN