Re: [Axiom-developer] Zwiki update, anti-spam thoughts

[Bob McElrath]

Simon Michael address@hidden wrote:
> Page, Bill wrote:
> >Maybe there are some new anti-spam options that Simon has
> >invented for ZWiki that could help, but merging our modified
> >ZWiki/LatexWiki code with the new ZWiki code is also likely
> >to be a serious amount of work. So far I have only done that
> >on a piecemeal basis.
> 
> It has to be done sooner or later though, if you continue to use Zwiki, 
> otherwise you fork more and more and you don't get the benefit of the 
> latest enhancements. I know you know this. I think the best approach is for 
> you and I to work on this together on IRC. I know Zwiki and you know the 
> latexwiki/mathaction changes and together we could probably get over this 
> hump in an hour or three.

I think this is unwise.  I chased ZWiki "improvements" for more than a
year.  Maintaining a forked codebase that is up-to-date with the main
one is a full-time job.  Unfortunately, for dynamic web sites such as on
zope, EVERY site is essentially a forked codebase.  Mathaction
especially so due to LatexWiki, axiom, reduce, and the other enhancments
Bill has added.  Only the most trivial clone of zwiki.org could ever
hope to maintain an up-to-date copy of the zwiki code.

I do not think ZWiki will gain vast quantities of features that will be
critical for mathaction anytime soon.  This is the Microsoft/Intel
marketing ploy...don't buy (build) what you need, buy what will let you
run nebulous nonexistant things that we promise tomorrow.  I have a
different idea.  Use what works, NOW.

It is better to keep mathaction working, and add needed things
piecemeal.  It will be more work to merge mathaction with the latest
ZWiki than to import only the latest anti-spam features.

--
Cheers,
Bob McElrath [Univ. of California at Davis, Department of Physics]

    Only after you've tried to figure something out for yourself and
    failed are you ready to absorb "the answer."

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