I'm sorry if I appeared defensive. I know PlanetMath has many shortcomings (perhaps better than anyone else) and am genuinely interested in finding out how to make it better.
You are right, PlanetMath is particularly lacking in statistics entries. And yes, more entries need diagrams, and in general, entries need to be more extensive. We're getting better, though. And there are plenty of examples of entries that are better on PlanetMath than MathWorld =)
As to the ownership process, you can actually set all your entries as world-editable, a-la Wiki, with PlanetMath's ACL system. I know I have done a poor job advertising this, and it should be a basic preference asked of users when they first sign up. For details see this documentation.
You also raise the objection of not liking how PlanetMath entries are "decomposed" (i.e., main entry, then proof, example, result, etc). This does not have to be the case--- people can just write one monolithic entry and put as much as they want in it. But it turns out that it is rare that someone has enough time to do this, and people are more productive when they can create and manage their own small, well-defined piece of content. It lowers the barrier to contribution, which is very important for a 100% volunteer effort. And in fact, it is potentially "invisible"--- in the future, it could be a preference to simply view all attachments as concatenated with the main entry.
I understand that you don't have much time, and honestly, I don't expect this of anyone who is competent. But someone like you could help PlanetMath out a lot simply by filing corrections (like "this needs a diagram"!). Most authors are very good about integrating suggestions this way. This is a consequence of the ownership system that you may not have anticipated.
As for the name, PlanetMath was started when MathWorld was offline for a year, so its not exactly like there was any competition for this "motif". Oh well!
> Perhaps PlanetMath will become more organized and complete. I've thought about contributing to PlanetMath, but I don't feel completely comfortable with it.
Thanks for mentioning PlanetMath.
Can you talk a little bit more about why you wouldn't feel comfortable contributing? You represent a contingent I haven't really heard from, so I'm very curious as to your reasons.
Also, in what way would you say its not organized? Are you aware that all entries are filed both alphabetically and in the MSC categorical system?
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I'm sorry if I appeared defensive. I know PlanetMath has many shortcomings (perhaps better than anyone else) and am genuinely interested in finding out how to make it better.
You are right, PlanetMath is particularly lacking in statistics entries. And yes, more entries need diagrams, and in general, entries need to be more extensive. We're getting better, though. And there are plenty of examples of entries that are better on PlanetMath than MathWorld =)
As to the ownership process, you can actually set all your entries as world-editable, a-la Wiki, with PlanetMath's ACL system. I know I have done a poor job advertising this, and it should be a basic preference asked of users when they first sign up. For details see this documentation.
You also raise the objection of not liking how PlanetMath entries are "decomposed" (i.e., main entry, then proof, example, result, etc). This does not have to be the case--- people can just write one monolithic entry and put as much as they want in it. But it turns out that it is rare that someone has enough time to do this, and people are more productive when they can create and manage their own small, well-defined piece of content. It lowers the barrier to contribution, which is very important for a 100% volunteer effort. And in fact, it is potentially "invisible"--- in the future, it could be a preference to simply view all attachments as concatenated with the main entry.
I understand that you don't have much time, and honestly, I don't expect this of anyone who is competent. But someone like you could help PlanetMath out a lot simply by filing corrections (like "this needs a diagram"!). Most authors are very good about integrating suggestions this way. This is a consequence of the ownership system that you may not have anticipated.
As for the name, PlanetMath was started when MathWorld was offline for a year, so its not exactly like there was any competition for this "motif". Oh well!
Thanks again for taking the time to talk to me.
> Perhaps PlanetMath will become more organized and complete. I've thought about contributing to PlanetMath, but I don't feel completely comfortable with it.
Thanks for mentioning PlanetMath.
Can you talk a little bit more about why you wouldn't feel comfortable contributing? You represent a contingent I haven't really heard from, so I'm very curious as to your reasons.
Also, in what way would you say its not organized? Are you aware that all entries are filed both alphabetically and in the MSC categorical system?
Cheers,
Aaron