About this site, which is Fun

Implementing this site seems to be big fun - it actually is, also because it is rather peculiar. The only real reference I know of is wikirate.org; the Decko framework is largely focused on the operations of this particular site.

My instance — you’re looking at — runs in AWS using a fairly (too) small machine:

• Ubuntu Linux;
• The Decko framework;
• Apache and Passenger;
• MySQL;
• Ruby with Ruby version manager Rbenv;
• HTTPS/SSL is done with Let’s Encrypt.

Almost 15 years ago I came across Decko — at that time known as WAGN — simply because I wanted to implement a Wiki written in Ruby. At PostNL I introduced earlier on ‘OpenWiki’, which at that time was a wiki written mostly in ‘asp’.

Just a number of remaining remarks

• The learning curve seems to be rather steep;
  just because I had already invested quite some effort, I am continuing using Decko;
• The git repository for the code goes from today all the way back to June 2007;
• The concept of cards seems somewhat weird and not implemented fully consistently, but it works;
• Actually, the flexibility is enormous; you can use all sorts of cards for plain text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Markdown, etc.;
• It is extremely well suited for content creation based on ‘stepwise refinement’; pages can be edited in split second from any client by multiple users when logged in to the systems;
• Change history is being maintained on a per card basis;
• Having met Ethan McCutchen in 2013 in Brussels when he was raising funds at European Commission for Wikirate support;
• Bootstrap is also under the hood, which facilitates usability on mobile devices.