Wikis are terrible things, mainly because they are so crammed with so much bloody potential. I’ve written at least 60 articles about wikis in the past few (ahem 7) years, about their usabilty, purpose, installation process… about how some delight me or frustrate me… about desktop wikis, SaS wikis and open source server engines… and I’ve come to these conclusions.

1. Wikis are, or can be, to writing/thinking what editing text on a computer is (felxible, deletable, reorganisable, copy&pastable) … only at a higher level.
2. VoodooPad (desktop), StikiPad (Software as Service) and MediaWiki (OS server code) rock.
3. All current wikis, including the above, suck (trust me I’ve tried, and tried to like them)

I have been tinkering with the version of MediaWiki (the engine that runs Wikipedia) that has a WYSIWYG editor rolled in. This is great because you get all the reliability that a hundred other half-arsed wikis don’t give you AND something bordering on an acceptable way of editing pages. I know that WYSIWYG editors still have their quirks to say the least, but they are getting there (ish). I’m using one right now to edit this blog article.

So yesterday, in a blinding flash of insight ( that has taken the best part of a decade ), I realised what I had to do. I have to find myself a project or two that desperately needs a wiki.

The people funding this project won’t realise that they desperately need a wiki yet, so this will be hard part, identifying which project would be a best fit. Which sounds a little like a problem looking for a solution, and in a way, that’s because it is.

I want to write a wiki!

There, I’ve said it. And I realise as I say it that I don’t really want to write a wiki, for a start it’s already been done, what I really want to do is create a fork or version of MediaWiki that has all the features I’ve blogged about previously. Yes I want WYSIWYG but I want it to integrate with the wiki when it comes to making links. I want to be be able to create (orphan) pages without creating a WikiWord, saving, clicking to create the page. I want a great design(s). I want a beautifully clean syntax that I never actually use. I want a GUI editor that can interface via XMLRPC. I want a super simple installation that asks me what sort of wiki this is to be, personal, shared. I want this wiki also to be a blog (or bliki). I want another million small improvements I’ve developed to do with information design, usability and IA.

In short I want to make MediaWiki for the masses and I want someone else to pay me to make it and give it away for free.

That’s not too much to ask is it? Now, your job is to find me the client.