MSDN Wiki

A Wiki is a communal document that users can read, add to, modify, add comments and generally contribute. If the idea of a Wiki is new to you, the best-known and largest example is Wikipedia, which is an encyclopaedia that has grown from nothing to rival the likes of Britannica in size, accuracy and use.

So good is the idea that Microsoft has released MSDN Wiki (beta), which will allow developers to help write documentation for Visual Studio and the entire .NET technologies. Developers will be able to expand the existing Microsoft-supplied documentation, adding tips, notes and code examples. Perhaps as important is the ability to edit any of the 300,000 topics already covered in the MSDN library. There are plans for it to be available directly in the Visual Studio IDE as an integral part of the help system.

At the moment the Wiki is only available in English, but future releases will work in other languages. Given that documentation could always do with improvement, the ability to correct and add to it via a Wiki is a good idea – even more so from Microsoft’s point of view, as it comes at little additional cost. The only real problem is ensuring the quality of the contributions – as Wikipedia has demonstrated, dubious information may be contributed by cranks or by those wanting to promote particular points of view. “Community Content” is clearly marked as such, and appears at the bottom of each MSDN topic page. Users are expected to police the entries and report inappropriate content. The success of the MSDN Wiki depends on the quality and reliability of the contributions – and of course the willingness of the community to make the many necessary contributions.