compilation of suggested changes to PM (wish list)

compilation of suggested changes to PM (wish list)

These are all of the suggested changes that people have mentioned and added to this list thus far:

1. Allow users to view entries in the encyclopedia sorted by type (definition, theorem, etc.). DONE!(?)

2. Allow members who make requests and administrators to retract/delete requests.

3. Allow members who state that requests are filled and administrators to update/renew requests.

4. Allow members to edit/delete their previous posts.

5. Make the words “edit this entry” (in the sentence “Anyone with an account can edit this entry” within world editable objects) clickable for members in order to edit the entry.

6. Give the ability to preview in HTML or Page Images mode when writing/editing an entry.

7. Improve the search function. Why isn’t the “ring” entry the first that comes up when I search for “ring”? Also bump users to the end: For instance, the user Matrix is the first result upon searching for “matrix.”

8. Have the search engine use metadata such as classification to betterlocate material. Add an advanced search feature which would allow limitingsearches by various sorts of criteria and searching only over subcollections.

9. Redefine popularity scoring. Does popularity of an entry equal total number of views it has received? Or should it based on some kind of average, or a combination of averages, weighted by how long it has been on PlanetMath?

10. See a list of world-editable objects that you have edited.

11. It seems that whenever a theorem is previewed (when being edited), the “Contains own proof” box becomes unchecked. This bug needs to be fixed.

12. Fix those “Unexpected Noosphere Errors”.

13. Make it easier to post corrections to non-viewable objects.

14. Make a log of deleted objects available, so that users can see who has been deleting what and why. (The “why” part would require allowing users to give an explanation when deleting an object.) Perhaps also allow other users to revive deleted objects, so that good entries are not lost simply because their owner no longer wants them.

15. Include a rerender link on every entry (for logged-in users only — otherwise it would be triggered by Googlebot and other indexers, which would put an unnecessary load on the server). For some reason entries often get in a corrupt state that can only be fixed by rerendering, and it is currently unreasonably difficult for users to do this unless they have edit permission on the entry.

16. Fix the display of the consistency scores of users when the user list is not sorted by user id.

17. Provide a clear link from a filed correction to the entry to which the correction was filed. (The current link is a red triangle that is easily overlooked and doesn’t even look like a link.)

18. Fix autolinker so that math mode and punctuation do not affect it.

19. Add feature that searches through fora to fetch posts containing designated words or phrases.

20. Allow sorting of things like your own objects, requests, or unproved theorems by date posted.

21. Allow display of forum entries by thread.

22. Provide some visual indicator of entries read (by logged-in user).

23. Get rid of the long preamble before the forum entries on the main screen, at least for logged-in users.

24. Fix the “consistency” value bug: the values are not correctly showing when users are sorted in certain ways.

25. Enable TeXin forum posts. There already is a script by Steve Chengwhich will render math in posts so we could start by improving the scriptand posting a link to download and install it in a prominent place on thesite. However, this requires installation on the client side, so, while itmay be a plausible interim solution, a server side solution is called forin the long run.

26. Have an e-mail interface to the fora and other areas of the sitesuch as, for instance, being able to file corrections by e-mail. Once suchan interface would be in place, the mailing list could be liquidated andits content moved to an e-mail-accessible forum. More generally, make itpossible to connect to PM by all sorts of means such as CVS, emacs and FTPrather than only through the web.

27. Add features usually found in e-mail, such as being able to send copiesof a message to multiple recipients to PM e-mail. Maybe also allow usersto make their own folders for their e-mail and allow mail to be previewed,sent, and viewed in TeX— the latter feature could be quite useful sincea number of users discuss math via PM mail.

28. Allow bug reports to be filed on search results — for instance, ifa search for a term did not generate an entry with that term as title, itwould be helpful to be able to file a report so that this shortcoming couldbe fixed.

29. Allow rendered views of past versions of entries — now only the sourcecan viewed and compared with other versions. Also assign URLs to past versions,say something like “http//planetmath.org.MyEntry.5.html” to specify thatone wants version 5 of “my entry”. In particular, this would be importantfor scholarly citation where one want to be sure that the reader is looking atthe same text which the author intended, not some later reworking of it.

30. Distinguish minor from major edits as on Asteroid Meta. The version numbers could be replaced by pairs such as “5.6” and the scoring could beadjusted accordingly.

31. Standardize the TeXpreambles to provide common macros for commonly useditems as opposed to each user doing it whatever way. Once these are in place,they should be described in documentation and corrections filed to bring oldentries into compliance. Later on, new definitions should be added tocentral files and documented rather than introduced ad hoc in possiblyconflicting variations.

32. Have the TeXcompiler produce indexing data in addition to graphicoutput. This data would allow one to do things like locate definitions,statements of theorems, and proofs in the collection.

33. For longer entries, it would be nice to have abstracts and abridgements.For instance, for an entry of type definition, the longer form wouldmotivate the definition, explain it, and illustrate with examples whilstthe abridgement would simply state the definition. A lengthy entry on sometopic might come with an abstract. An involved proof might come with anabstract describing what it is about and a abridged version listing the main steps with most of the detailed verifications and explanations left out.Since abstracts and abridgements are not appropriate for every entry, theywould be optional, but corrections could be filed to indicate entries whichshould have them. For an example of how to present shorter and longerversions of material in an online reference, see the MacTutor bibliographies.

34. To improve the presentation of longer entries, have a format in whichone has an outline of the sections and can either click on the section headingto bring up its contents or have it scroll down as in a menu. In the pageimage mode, the outline would be rendered as a table of contents precedingthe main text.

35. Allow anchors within entries for convenience in linking to longerentries. These could be set using some sort of TeXpseudo-command so that,for instance, a link to a term defined on page 3 of a 9 page entry wouldtake one to the correct location in the document.

36. While the Cyrillic alphabet is well-supported, its parent is onlyavailable via math mode but$\tau o\alpha \pi o\tau ϵ\lambda ϵ\sigma \mu \alpha ϵ\iota \nu \alpha \iota \alpha \sigma \chi \eta \mu o\nu$ because thespacing is designed for variables in formulas, not words in natural language.Therefore, we should install packages for Greek and other alphabetsand update the internationalization document accordingly.

37. Provide a mechanism for listing foreign names of titles and termsdefined in entries.

38. The pronunciation boxes of most entries are not used. Maybe someonecould systematically look through entries, note which ones could usepronunciations and either file addenda or add them directly where givenpermission by the owner. Also, add some mechanism to provide pronunciationsfor alternative titles and defined terms.

39. Have a field for indicating whether an entry is based on existing work(s)and, if so, which ones. not only would this allow automatic generation of abanner stating this fact, it would allow for automatic generation of lists ofentries based on previous works, which could be important in case it mighthappen that we find out we do not, or no longer have permission to baseentries on a particular work and need to pull them out of the collection or atleast freeze them from further edits.

40. Make a technical editing apparatus, such as what was originally intendedfor FEM. This package would enable one to compile multiple entries into asingle document, perhaps applying diff files to them, and the like.

41. Make a test site for trying out new features before installing them onthe main site.

42. Have links to versions of entries for printing.

43. Provide citations for entry in various formats which can be cut andpasted into documents citing PM as a reference.

44. Have a box for indicating whether an entry is under construction, ina stable version, or being reworked. This status could be reflected in abanner at the top of the rendered entry, such as “Under construction” or“Under renovation — for the last stable version, click here”.

45. In addition to the fora now attached to entries, have author forafor discussing how to write the entry and drop suggestions to the authors.

46. Provide localized help — for instance, have help links near items orhave help messages appear upon floating a cursor over a button.

47. Reorganize and refactor the site documents to make them more usefuland work as a unit with some sort of master guide.

48. Be sure to not only document the technical aspects of features, butalso the social conventions and community norms pertinent to their use.

49. Include a field for indicating prerequisites for understanding anentry. For example, to understand class field theory, one needs to knowsomething about algebraic number fields, Galois theory, and ideal theory,so the prerequisite field could mention this and point the potential readertowards material supplying this preliminary information. Together withaudience classification, this could help readers who are not experts in aparticular area to go about learning something new from the encyclopaedia.

50. Devise and write material to help people learn material from PM.This could include textbook projects, notes, guides suggesting which entriesto read to learn some topic, etc.

51. Allow corrections for typos, minus signs and the like to be filedin the form of patches. To post such a correction, someone would edit thetext of the entry in a special window, the program would generate a diff filewhich could be applied as a patch, and the owner would have the additionaloption of accepting the correction by applying the patch. (Although the ownershould still be able to accept the correction by making changes by hand —this might be desirable in cases such as when the owner wants to fixmistakes in a way different from what was suggested.)

52. Add a facility for uploading and downloading entries as TeXfiles and e-mail.

53. Make a PM banner which can go on web pages to link to PM and make itavailable through the site.

54. Interest experts in writing entries on their specialties. On the longerterm, think of new ways in which experts might be interested in participating.For example, while they may not be too keen on writing a lot themselves, theymight be interested in an arrangement in which they supervise students whowrite material bases on their notes.

55. Improve the display of corrections for users so that one can see only theoutstanding corrections to one’s entries (or have them appear at the top of alist) and see date by which correction must be answered.

56. Make a text-only version of the PM site as well as versions designedfor PDA, mobile telephones, and similar devices which can connect to web.

57. Have a calendar of events accessible from the home page or someprominent page which is indexed from the home page.

58. Set up a task management program.

59. Have the system automatically notify people about events when sorequested by an organizer.

60. It would be nice to have a login box which redirects you to the page you came from when you try to perform an action which can only be done by a logged user.

61. Make a holding tank for mass uploading of entries (like APM-Xi).Rather than flooding the encyclopaedia with lots of material, massuploads could go into this special area in which they could be reviewedand from which they could be gradually adopted so as not to mess upthe workflow.

62. Document Noosphere. While there is a general description in Aaron’sthesis, comments within the code, and documentation of SQL tables, what ismissing is the middle level documentation which bridges the gap betweenthe high-level description of the thesis and the low-level descriptionof comments and data structures. Good documentation should make it easy forsomeone to figure out how the program works and locate the code responsiblefor a particular feature so ad to make it easy to fix bugs and makeimprovements. While we are at it, it would be good to set up standards andconventions for documentation so that the documentation can keep up withchanges to the program and make sure that hackers leave the program aseasy to figure out as they found it — updating the documentationappropriately should be a required part of modifying the code.

63. Make it possible to access past years and months quickly through a hierarchical menu (click on year to get list of months, click on month to bring up all messages) posted that month.

64. It would be nice to be able to expand all the messages in a thread below the current message; this would make getting up to speed on a discussion faster.

65. How has the encyclopedia changed and grown over time? It would be cool to see a graph.

66. I think it would be great if the links that were saved in PM tarballs looked like PMlinkname commands rather than as htmladdnormallink commands

67. I think it would be nice to be able to use links in a TeX source view, specifically, in addition to the un-marked-up original TeX view, I would like there to be a version that includes automatically generated links.

68. Create a way for blind mathematicians/low-vision users to view and contribute to PM.

69. Add subject classification to questions in help fora.

70. I think it would make sense to display ”Latest Rejections” in the sameway as ”Latest Additions”, ”Latest Revisions” on the main page. This way, allusers can verify that the rejection is valid. Another thing one could consideris that owners should not be allowed to accept a correction without changingthe entry. Nor should they be allowed to check the correction without offeringsome revision comment.

71. User info currently provides ”corrections filed” and ”corrections received”. How about a quick link to ”corrections rejected”?

72. Somewhere on PM, there could be a list of the distribution of corrections.

73. We could have various different ”high scores” – one for users who file the most corrections would be a simple measure. Another one for users who reject the most corrections could be funny – it isn’t clear that rejecting corrections is a good way to improve your reputation. Other categories could be worth including. (Most articles, most postings, etc., etc.)

74. Implement mechanisms for disputing corrections.

75. Enable people to specify certain keywords and phrases that they will get email notices about (e.g. ”number theory” or ”prime number” or ”statistics”). Similarly, one might always wish to get email notices when certain people (aka ”buddies”) post, or when posts occur in certain parts of the site (e.g. attachments to anything in the 38-XX range).

76. Currently figures are attached to a fixed entry. It would be good if all figures on PM would be in a centralized figure database. This database could also contain the code creating the figure. This will make it easy to reuse figures across entries and also make small changes to figures. It will also encourage users to take figures from PM and use them in their own texts.

77. I assume that it is easy enough to supply a hitcounter for messages(since encyclopedia entries already have them).

78. When transfering an entry to another user, it would make sense to have some comment field describing why one is offering the entry to him/her.

79. It would be good to have a common logo/banner that people could put on material that is ”Free Math”. That is, if someone releases a paper or lecture note as Free Math (say GPL), he could put that logo on the front page. In PDF:s, the logo could link to a manifesto page on PM describing why Free Math is important. One advantage of this is that it would be easier to find GPL math content on the web using search engines.

80. It would make sense to have the requests classified according to the MSC. First, this would enable users to browse requests from their own expertise, and second, it would make it easier to fill in a request; the topic is already classified.

81. There is a large portion of math in the PM forums that could be turned into PM articles. As PM gets more users and the forums start supporting latex this will become even more relevant. It would seem that we need some kind of procedure after a question is answered.

82. I think it would be handy to have user homepages for PM in the same style as other articles – instead of HTML, use LaTeX, for example. But also supply some additional productivity tools.

83. I’m also noticing an interesting phenomenon of ”labeling” or ”categorization” taking place on the web; many blogs seem to have this feature, the idea being that pages or postings can belong to several user-supplied categories. Perhaps a feature like this could be worked into the PM homepages.

84. Have an entry of the day.

85. To help authors create entries (and to improve old entries) we could have entry checklists.

86. All text on PM (forums, corrections) have automatically generated hyperlinks for www pages. Unfortunately, this is not true for requests. This would be particularly useful as one can point out related entries in the request.

87. Sometimes it would be nice to take a peek at how Noosphere is written. Having the sources browsable online would make this a bit easier for the average user. They don’t even have to be the absolute latest version.

88. PM has users from all over the world. Yet all dates and times are represented in only one format and timezone. For example, for international readers, 2006-03-05 can mean either 5 March or 3 May.

89. Sometimes it is useful to file corrections to more than one entry at a time.

90. How about creating a page that lists in addition to the Latest Additions and Latest Revisions, Latest Corrections and Latest Postings (i.e., in these two cases, a list of the objects that have been corrected or posted to, as with the first two cases), all in one easy-to-access place?

91. Update the orphanage procedure. A suggestion is that objects stay in the orphanage for a week, users express interest in the orphaned object, and the Content Committee determines new ownership.

Please add changes that either you would like to come about or that you know that someone has requested.

After compiling the changes, it would be a good idea to check and see whether these changes are feasible or not. Then, it might be a good idea to take a poll to see if people on PM want these changes or not.