[Pmwiki-users] Re: Authors/Users WikiGroup?

[Jonathan Scott Duff]

On Tue, Feb 03, 2004 at 12:24:20AM -0700, Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 02, 2004 at 05:02:56PM -0600, Jonathan Scott Duff wrote:
> > 
> > I'd prefer shorter too, but isn't part of the point that this will
> > rarely need to be typed?  Contributors will just put --Scott and that
> > will magically turn into --Contributors/{{Scott}}
> 
> Allowing "--username" as markup at the end of a line is still just a
> proposed addition at the moment--it hasn't necessarily been adopted
> (although there seems to be fairly strong support).  

I'm taking the position that something like --username will exist at
some point if only because of shear momentum :)

> Plus, there are 
> times when I might want to make reference to another person in the 
> middle of a paragraph, as in
> 
>    Contributors/{{Scott}} says that Contributors/{{Pm}} is allowed
>    to do what Pm wants ala Larry Wall.  
> 
> and I might prefer that Contributors be less cumbersome to type.  

We could easily come up with an inline version.  Here's one we've
already seen:

        [[--Scott]] says that [[--Pm]] is allowed to do what [[--Pm]]
        wants ala Larry Wall

> But, I don't know that this will occur often, and a WikiAdmin can always 
> change the WikiGroup to be something shorter if he/she prefers.
> 
> Returning to the proposed "--username" markup itself, a few questions arise:
> 
> 1.  What should happen by default with "--username" if the page
>     Contributors/Username doesn't exist?  Should it become a '?'-link to
>     create the page, as with other non-existent WikiWords, or should
>     it just be left alone?  (I'll probably make this a configurable
>     option, but want to know what the default behavior should be.)

It should become a link be default.  Make it easy for people to add
themselves to the Contributors group.

> 2.  In addition to the example that Reimer Behrends gave of a markup
>     alias ("-- That"), the pattern I last proposed would allow names to 
>     begin with lowercase letters which can generate even more 
>     unintended markup aliases.  For example, with the pattern I
>     proposed the following lines in markup would both generate 
>     username links:
> 
> 	ls --all
> 	grep -r -- pattern - otherfile
>     
>     This might be okay if we agree that non-existent usernames don't
>     produce links, but it bothers me a bit that I was able to come
>     up with two non-obvious alias examples so quickly.  Suggestions,
>     comments?

An alternative might be to force the --username markup to appear at
the beginning of a line and be the only thing on the line. (I also
think that there shouldn't be a space between -- and the username in
the markup though it could render that way if desired. But that's a
minor quibble)

[[--Pm]] is allowed to do what [[--Pm]] wants ala Larry Wall
--Scott

> 3.  I'm not sure how I feel about "[[--username]]" as an author-link
>     markup; it just doesn't look quite as natural as "--username".  
>     On the other hand, it makes it pretty clear that a link is
>     intended.

Another idea: --[[username]]  or --{{username}} even.  Though these
might be surprising since it's not obvious that the -- is a modifier
on the existing syntax (though that's how it would act).  

Maybe we should call the group that the users appear in -- 

        --/{{Pm}} is allowed to do what --/{{Pm}} wants ala Larry Wall
						--/{{Scott}}

1/2 :-)

-Scott
-- 
Jonathan Scott Duff
duff at pobox.com