[pmwiki-users] Wiki farm confusion

[Joachim Durchholz]

The Editor schrieb:
> Would appreciate any feedback on the barn / field idea.

I think it's going too far into agriculture ;-)

The main problem with the farm/field confusion seems to be terminology.

Farming just isn't a recognized metaphor, so it needs to be explained 
(i.e. in what ways is a wikifarm similar to a real farm, and where and 
how does the analogy break down) - and this need to explain destroys the 
whole point of having a metaphor (namely giving people a simple picture 
to work from).

Also, "farm" isn't a good metaphor. There are too many aspects to 
farming (and even more if you happen to be a farmer). A good metaphor is 
small, so that the reader doesn't have to guess (or read a lengthy 
explanation) which aspects of the farm are meant.

However, it seems that the terminological confusion is being addressed 
(up to and including radical proposals that want to replace the 
terminology with something else).

Just my 2c.

Regards,
Jo