Modern Documentation Platform: docs.secondlife.com
planned
Signal Linden
Problem
The current Second Life documentation ecosystem has several critical issues:
Content Management
- MediaWiki markup creates an onerous authoring process that discourages contributions
- Documentation frequently becomes outdated when new LSL functionality is introduced
- Legacy content including outdated meeting notes clutters the user experience
- Knowledge base and MediaWiki exist as separate, fragmented systems
Technical Infrastructure
- Self-hosted MediaWiki requires ongoing maintenance and resources
- Platform struggles with spam and needs extensive moderation
Solution
Build a modern, unified documentation platform at docs.secondlife.com using services like readme.com or Mintlify.
Key Features
- Consolidate knowledge base and MediaWiki into a single site with proper syntax highlighting
- Auto-generate LSL documentation from the upcoming open-source lsl_definitions.yamlfile
- Enable community contributions with modern editing workflows
- Automatically keep documentation current with new functionality
Benefits
- Eliminates self-hosting maintenance overhead
- Reduces moderation burden through improved platform tooling
- Transforms documentation into a dynamic, community-driven resource that scales with Second Life's development
Log In
Peter Stindberg
To address some of your premises:
- The MediaWiki authoring process acts as a gatekeeper with the DOWNside of fewer contributions, but the UPside of high quality contributions
- I check the wiki daily (recent additions) and haven't noticed any amount of spam
- On the other hand, a system with an easier authoring process makes spamming more easy as well
I can't comment on the self hosting overhead. It's been decades since I self-hosted a MediaWiki. Check Gwyneth Llewelyn long contribution on the forum for that matter - she seems to have extensive experience with that.
Wulfie Reanimator
I'm a contributor on the wiki (primarily LSL pages) and yes, moving to a different platform might be a good idea. I would rather go for Mintlify since it can be self-hosted.
A major problem with the existing wiki is the template-nesting-spaghetti (many of which were created almost 20 years ago) that I wouldn't want to poke much to avoid explosions. Sure, they're are useful for including the same info on many pages, but they're very complex to find/edit.
Extrude Ragu
This would be nice. Although if it is third party hosted, make sure you're keeping backups just in case. SL Tends to outlive other platforms:)
Signal Linden
Merged in a post:
Overhaul the SL Wiki Pages and Allow Contributions
RestrainedRaptor Resident
Currently, a huge portion of the SL Wiki (especially the LSL documentation) is out of date or contains wrong information. There are also dozens of example LSL scripts that are ancient, not using current best practises and should be removed.
Additionally, there are thousands of links to the old JIRA which can no longer be accessed.
Even worse, residents don't have the ability to edit pages or even contribute to the Talk pages, meaning it's impossible to make/suggest corrections (which begs the question, why are we even using a wiki system and why can we log into it with our SL accounts? Are there some special non-staff users that have this privilege?)
Perhaps LL can allocate one or two employees to go through these pages and update them, consulting with relevant developers where necessary to ensure the info is accurate. Finally, allow residents to contribute to edits and discussion (Talk pages at the very least). If that's too risky, consider recruiting more wiki volunteers.
Update: I've just found out that the contents of the old Jira have been ported to https://github.com/secondlife/jira-archive so an automated Wiki script could potentially update a lot of these old links.
Signal Linden
planned
SL Feedback
Merged in a post from Signal Linden:
Title: Modern Documentation Platform: docs.secondlife.com
Details: # Problem
The current Second Life documentation ecosystem has several critical issues:
Content Management
- MediaWiki markup creates an onerous authoring process that discourages contributions
- Documentation frequently becomes outdated when new LSL functionality is introduced
- Legacy content including outdated meeting notes clutters the user experience
- Knowledge base and MediaWiki exist as separate, fragmented systems
Technical Infrastructure
- Self-hosted MediaWiki requires ongoing maintenance and resources
- Platform struggles with spam and needs extensive moderation
Solution
Build a modern, unified documentation platform at docs.secondlife.com using services like readme.com or Mintlify.
Key Features
- Consolidate knowledge base and MediaWiki into a single site with proper syntax highlighting
- Auto-generate LSL documentation from the upcoming open-source lsl_definitions.yamlfile
- Enable community contributions with modern editing workflows
- Automatically keep documentation current with new functionality
Benefits
- Eliminates self-hosting maintenance overhead
- Reduces moderation burden through improved platform tooling
- Transforms documentation into a dynamic, community-driven resource that scales with Second Life's development
Peter Stindberg
Everyone
can get write access by filing a support ticket ticket and asking for it.If you check https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Special:RecentChanges you see that the wiki is very actively maintained both by LL staff as well as by a host of resident volunteers.
You are more than welcome to join and do your own contributions.
RestrainedRaptor Resident
Peter Stindberg Good to know... Ironically, the wiki itself has inaccurate info, stating that anyone can contribute. https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Project:About#How_to_contribute_to_the_wiki
Sadly I don't think I'll have the time and energy needed to make the thousands of revisions needed across the LSL wiki. That's something a paid employee should be doing.
Peter Stindberg
RestrainedRaptor Resident Yes, and sadly that page is protected and can't be edited (by me).
Noone expects you to do thousands of edits. Even if you only do a single one, it's one more than was there before.
Spidey Linden
Peter Stindberg: You are correct, thank you for adding this info!