Need a decent Wiki service? Not so fast.

What initially started as an attempt to create a wiki page where my New Media class team members could collaborate on the project eventually turned into a day long quest for a decent platform that would provide such services. First, let me clarify the requirements: easy to sign up and simple to use pretty much covers it. Shouldn’t be hard to find, right?

 Wrong. When I “wikipedia-ed” the Wiki services I quickly realized that not all of them are free. Some offered quite comprehensive set of capabilities and required a subscription, some offered a free trial. So I gave a few of them a fair try.

 My first experiment was Wikia.  The platform self-described as “the world’s largest network of collaboratively published content” is free and supports numerous content types (pictures, music, videos, etc.). However, it took me good 5 minutes to figure out the sign up process. For some reason the website wouldn’t accept my Facebook log in, and email sign up was confusing.  Three Facebook and two email sign up attempts later I did figure it out but the momentum was lost. So even though the templates provided by Wikia looked pretty sweet and easy to navigate I decided to move on.

 The next logical step was to try a paid service. So in hopes of a better user experience I signed up for Central Desktop. The price of $99/month seemed steep but the platform offered a 15-day free trial so I couldn't resist. Within seconds I was able to access all the necessary content – discussions board, calendar, project management tools. I have to admit I was blown away. Until the first phone call came in. The company representatives did not wait too long to start bombarding me with sales phone calls and voicemails. Turns out I was too naive to think “free trial” implies harassment free. Wrong again.

 Just for the research purposes I decided to try out the third platform before going back to an already existing account with Wikia. OurProject.org platform is free and its UI definitely reflects that. I did not get through the sign up process because it was way too complicated, asked question that in my opinion were too technical for an average person and Help button was nowhere to be seen. So Our Project never transitioned to “my project”.

 Exhausted and somewhat disappointed I decided to get back to the first item of my research Wikia. The memory of a horrible sign up experience has faded away and the user interface looked better than ever after experiencing Our Project’s home page.  The Wikia platform has many useful features and a friendly interface, is relatively intuitive, and supports HTML and Javascript.  I am not sure whether this is a perfect tool for group collaborations. After all, Google docs and DropBox have proved to be reliable tools in the past. But maybe this time around I will give a chance to a Wiki service.