Forum:Remove 5-wiki limit for autoconfirmed users

Forums: Index → Community help

The limit on wiki creation should be removed for autoconfirmed users. AOTCP69zhere (talk) 22:54, 21 January 2018 (UTC)

1. Interesting thought, any particular reason for this belief?
2. A statement isn't necessarily the best way to start a discussion (you're in the forum namespace, after all...)

--Lewis Cawte (talk) 23:39, 21 January 2018 (UTC)

There is no reason for users who are no longer considered "new" to be restricted by the limit. AOTCP69zhere (talk) 00:20, 22 January 2018 (UTC)

See, here's the thing. I still have the vague idea of adding an exemption group for the wiki creation limit. My only problem with that is, I've yet to find a case where I can justify that. The limit is set at a rather generous five because there's very little reason to have it any higher. Wikis are not collectables, they're not really very good attics or storage units. A wiki needs to be looked after, contributed to and maintained. I've yet to find a wiki that is done. I have, in my 10 years or so, editing various wikis, seen wikis about various topics that are no longer "current" edited and improved upon year after year.

Apart from the semi-philosophical bit above, wikis aren't free. Each wiki created adds a burden to the server. It's another database we have to maintain and update. This adds more seconds on to feature deployments, MediaWiki updates and server software changes. It's another set of files we have to keep healthy. It's another site we have to protect from spambots, in our own time for no pay (like every other single thing we do at ShoutWiki), to preserve any shred of page rankings we have at search engines. And to be honest, there are very few small sites that contribute to ad revenue, they probably have a detrimental effect in all honesty.

Wikis that you have changed your mind on after creating can be deleted... particularly if they're inactive, with no pages and weren't really touched when you created them years ago. If you can't remember what you've created, Special:MyWikis is the tool to use.

--Lewis Cawte (talk) 00:36, 22 January 2018 (UTC)