# Ansible knowledge leakage...

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-knowledge-leakage/12028>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [October 25, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-knowledge-leakage/12028 "2012-10-25T18:12:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Nigel\_Metheringham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nigel\_Metheringham](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nigel_Metheringham)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-knowledge-leakage/12028/1 "2012-10-25T18:12:19Z")

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As I dip in and out of ansible I find it quite hard to find information  
outside of the main documentation (which is a great base).

Part of the problem is that searching for stuff picks up mailing list  
items which are (say) 3 months old - or several generations - and the  
ansible work has changed since then. The mailing list currently has a  
lot of good stuff on it - but its passing by quickly, and finding stuff  
in there is rather hard.

So, is there a case for running something more wiki-like for storing  
current information?

The problem with this is that wikis can get clogged with old stuff, so  
they need a degree of gardening frequently.

Or is there some better mechanism to collate knowledge? Maybe with a  
way to upvote/downvote info so its easier to retire off the old stuff?

The main documentation is pretty easy to get at - and the target  
audience should be comfortable with a git clone/edit/push setup, but  
currently there are not good places to add non-core documentation - and  
that howto fix small problems docs are often the best things to give  
folks hints...

Sorry - bit of a ramble, but hopefully may help kickstart something...

&nbsp;&nbsp;Nigel.

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**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-knowledge-leakage/12028/2 "2012-10-25T18:17:45Z")

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The documentation website is part of the ansible main repository, to which you can contribute by means of pull requests.

Serge

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-knowledge-leakage/12028/3 "2012-10-25T19:05:29Z")

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Yeah I am not a huge fan of Wikis.

They tend to collect out of date or updated information.

If you find something mentioning, as Serge said, please take time to  
at least file a ticket about it or send a pull request to the  
docsite/rst/\*.rst files.

I don't think there's a lot missing, but there are probably a few  
things scattered around that could be clarified.

--Michael

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**Author:** ![jpmens1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jpmens1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jpmens1)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-knowledge-leakage/12028/4 "2012-10-25T19:22:34Z")

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Michael,

> Yeah I am not a huge fan of Wikis.

neither am I: most Wikis suck because they quickly grow stale.

Nevertheless, Nigel is right: it's difficult to find auxilliary info  
on Ansible which isn't "ancient".

Would you be willing to add a Wiki to the Github Ansible repo? (Admin,  
Options, Features, Wikis checkbox)? We could then give it a try. Maybe  
Nigel and I can start on that...

If it takes off (and is maintained), great. Otherwise you kill it.

Github Wikis can have edits restricted to collaborators (same page in  
Admin panel) or be open to public edits). They support history,  
pull-requests, etc. I'm no specialist on this, but it seems to me as  
though this platform is possibly best-suited for Ansible because of its  
Github hosting anyway. [e.g. we can reference issue numbers, etc.]

Might be worth a try.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-JP

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-knowledge-leakage/12028/5 "2012-10-25T19:26:30Z")

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> Would you be willing to add a Wiki to the Github Ansible repo? (Admin,  
> Options, Features, Wikis checkbox)? We could then give it a try. Maybe  
> Nigel and I can start on that...

I'm not against it if we limit scope -- it should not repeat docs, for  
one, and things that should be docs should be in docs.  
Bugs are not things that go on the Wiki -- those go in bug reports.  
We can put all that in the front page, though I can definitely  
use some help curating it.

Etc.

But as for a way to do a set of instructions about how to do certain  
things, that sounds perfect, yes.

I'll set one up shortly.

> If it takes off (and is maintained), great. Otherwise you kill it.
> 
> Github Wikis can have edits restricted to collaborators (same page in  
> Admin panel) or be open to public edits). They support history,  
> pull-requests, etc. I'm no specialist on this, but it seems to me as  
> though this platform is possibly best-suited for Ansible because of its  
> Github hosting anyway. [e.g. we can reference issue numbers, etc.]

I've been fine with them being open to anyone with a github account in the past.
