We’ve all seen it, and maybe done it.

Someone IM’s an entire SL Group of sailors to ask a question like: “How do I use the start line?“, “How do I customize my Tako sails?” or “Where can I learn about gestures?”

Hopefully a few sailors read the post and scramble through their inventory looking for an answer on some obscure notecard, or in a transcript of some in-world discussion. If that doesn’t work, some will flip through the pages of .ORG or .COM hoping to find an answer to the request. If they are lucky enough to find something, it’s usually out of date. There has got to be a better way, right?

Well, here it is: the Second Sailing Wiki.

A wiki is an easy way to organize a community database of information that “Allows users to collaboratively create, edit, link, and organize the content of a website, usually for reference material.” For example, if you wanted to learn about wikis, you’d probably look it up on a wiki like Wikipedia, the huge online collaborative encyclopedia. Wikis can be powerful because anyone in the community can add information to the database or edit what’s already there. Here’s a video that explains it in a way that even Armchair will understand.

Cynthia Centaur and a small group of SL Sailors have been working undercover for the past few months on a wiki for the SL Sailing community, setting up the website and adding the initial content. It’s now open for business at SecondSailing.org. The ultimate goal of the Second Sailing Wiki is to provide a single location for any reference material SL Sailors deem important. The wiki will never be the only place for SL Sailing information, but Cynthia’s team is aiming to make SecondSailing.org the first place sailors will want to go to get basic information on a wide variety of topics along with useful links to other resources. Although it’s only just begun, the wiki already includes wonderful articles on essential topics such as the “Absolute beginners guide to Learning to sail the Tako” and a discussion of the “Start Line“.

The wiki’s open for business now, so go take a look. we’ve included a permanent link to it on the side panel here at SLSailing.com. However, the strength of a community sailing wiki comes from the involvement and contributions of all SL sailors. If you like the idea, don’t just go to SecondSailing.org to read the reference articles… please update them, add to them, and contribute your own! That’s the best part of a wiki. As users contribute, the knowledgebase snowballs in size. As more people post to the wiki, more people start to use it… and that means more information gets added.

Posting to the wiki is fun and very easy; it’s just as easy as posting a note on SLSAILING.ORG. Do you think an article on the wiki has outdated information or forgot to list something important? Well the, change it! Look of that page, hit the “Edit” button, and make the change yourself (you’ll have to register the first time you post, but that only takes a couple seconds). Once you’ve made a change or added new information, you can press “Preview” to see if your change looks right. Then “Save” it. It’s that simple… Voilà, you are a wiki author. Your fellow sailors will thank you for your help, or even better… they will add more information about what you have written. Of course there are many other ways to add to the information in the database. If you don’t want to write a complete article but know interesting resources on the net you want to share with other skippers, add the link to an appropriate page on that topic. The more people that make edits and contributions, the faster the Second Sailing wiki will become a powerful tool for all SL sailors.

If you want to get involved, there are plenty of empty links that need your help. For example, you could start by filling out a page on your favorite boat. if you’re not sure exactly what to post, check out the Beach Cat page in the wiki for a template you can follow. The wiki is largely a blank slate as it opens up this week, but with everyone’s input it will fill up fast. Please take a look and get involved!

With your help the SecondSailing wiki will grow into a definitive first-stop reference for boats, equipment, racing, yacht clubs… and pretty much all sailing information in Second Life.

/The SLSailing Wiki launch team: Cynthia Centaur, M1sha Dallin, Jane Fossett, Yuu Nakamichi and Vin Mariani