We have the opportunity to establish a historical Wiki on this site, so I thought we should gauge interest in it.

For those unfamiliar with the term, this is the definition listed in perhaps the most well known Wiki on the Internet, Wikipedia:

A wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit and change some available content ... This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. ... The first wiki, WikiWikiWeb, is named after the “Wiki Wiki” line of Chance RT-52 buses in Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. ... “Wiki-wiki” means “hurry quick” in Hawaiian. It also refers to a type of fish native to the islands.

To get a feel of how a Wiki works, visit the Wikipedia site and browse. It’s basically an online encyclopedia.

The Wiki concept of collaborative authoring would allow users of this site to create entries on any topic of historical interest in the area. For instance, a user could create an entry about cotton, then write about cotton’s impact on this area’s history. Others could add to, delete or change the entry, the object being to produce a body of information on the topic that is generally accepted as complete and correct.

Someone else could produce a separate entry on cotton farming in Lamar County, for instance, and write specifically about that. Other users could then edit, add to it or delete from it.

And so on. There would be no limit on the diversity of topics. If someone felt the need to write about the history of hamburger establishments in Paris, or the impact of a certain breed of dairy cow in Hopkins County, they could. And others would be free to add to those articles or edit them.

Please take a moment to vote in the accompanying poll, and respond below if you have questions or ideas or opinions.