Forum Wikipedia

[JeffH]

But, you can't opt out.

[Triggersmob]

I would be happy to contribute to this idea. I would like to see it as part of this forum though. Maybe as some sort of gallery, like the one at CCF. It would be nice to have it viewable from the outside, as this would attract extra people to our forum and hopefully new members.

[JeffH]

Sorry, I started following an off topic comment. I do think the Wiki idea may have promise.

Jeff

[markn]

I think the wiki has promise too.  There's a few problems with it though.  First, I just don't have time to set it up.  Second, the hosting account I use for this forum doesn't have the disk space or bandwidth available for it.  It'd need to be setup on another hosting account and run off of a sub-domain.  Something like http://wiki.australian-coins.net

To those who suggested taking the content onto some other platform that won't be happening.  If this wiki does happen the content will be controlled by us and not subject to the whim of some other company.

[triplewitch]

A suggestion of Facebook or Google+ as a repository is not off topic, but so many people are turned off by social networks that participation would be limited.  Any good would, as in this topic, be overshadowed by the invective against it.  The mechanics of setting something up on Facebook or Google+ and showing people who might not be computer literate how to use it would be daunting.  Some people could not handle the limitations such as the maximum 200 pictures in an album for Facebook  or might not like the comments of strangers on their entries.  The idea is to place the repository where it will get the most participation.  Most people can understand 'go here and upload to this place, this is how you do it' given proper explanation.  Let's leave Facebook, Google+, etc., to those of us who like them and move on to something else.-John
If you put valuable information on a hosting account that is not under the control of the participants or at least where the administration is transferable, you might lose it as has happened twice before in my experience with these forums.-John

[Fulvio]

If you really want a gallery, Gallery2 is hard to beat (or perhaps Gallery3, but I haven't played with that): http://galleryproject.org/

I have it running on my Joomla test site, along with the SMF forum:
http://fulvio.jovianprojects.com.au/test/
I would definitely recommend a Joomla front end if any services are added here, such as a gallery, wiki or whatever. If only to provide a public face which is friendlier than the bare MyBB page.

There seems to be some misconception about G+. It is NOT a social media site, no matter how confused many people may be on this score. Yes, you can communicate with people. 500 Million of them at last count. You can chat online, you can make voice calls or multi-person video hangouts, but it is nothing like Facebook (or twitter for that matter).

The advantages of using a G+ community are many, not least of which is the way images are handled. Every user gets 5Gb of storage, shared between what used to be Google Docs and Picasa. Photos can be uploaded at full resolution, and can be zoomed and panned if they are over 2,048 pixels on the longest edge. However if they are less than this, they don't count, and storage is unlimited. And because they're stored in the owner's albums, they don't count towards a community either. So if you have a thousand members, that's 5 Terabytes of high-res photos, or an infinite number of lower-res, for free. Add in the ability to comment and reshare, plus the analytics and all manner of third-party addons, and its a tough combo to beat.

I really do believe that a community there would be ideal to reach the unwashed multitudes who haven't tripped over this place (and who could be directed here), or even those who hate forums and would never join, or like me, seldom participate. I'm NOT saying replace this, not at all. But like Newspapers and TV, they are different beasts with different strengths, and we should utilise them to maximum effect.

Finally, there's the whole control issue. We've lost forums before, and an irreplaceable amount of great information. There is NO guarantee that won't happen again, despite all the best intentions in the world. People change. Technology fails. Heck, some people even get run over by Armaguard trucks or fall into coining presses! And because of this, a public repository is ideal. Not for the banter, and not for personal stuff, but for documenting our coinage for posterity. Google is not about to disappear anytime soon, is it? And even if it did, all the content would still be accessible if it was posted publicly.

Now, for some eye candy, here's an example photo lifted from the Coin Collecting Community (which sadly seems to be almost exclusively US):

https://plus.google.com/u/0/114216782273335791829/posts/5ZZ12uer85v