Metaweb:FAQ

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the Metaweb. If you have a question and it is not answered here, post it on the FAQ talk page.

Isn't this redundant with Wikipedia?

No. See Metaweb:An explanation of the similarities and differences between Wikipedia and Metaweb. Metaweb:governance ideas are also necessarily somewhat different, if only because it is not running in 40 languages at once.

Is this software downloadable?

Yes. We are running the GPLed software MediaWiki, a PHP/MySQL-based WikiWiki, the same software as the Wikipedia. The software is on Sourceforge at wikipedia.sourceforge.net.

Can a non-technical user run this software himself/herself?

Almost certainly not. It relies on MySQL and has numerous flakiness problems that will prevent a non-technical user from keeping it going reliably.

The evolution of a wikitext standard may give users an option of different wiki software to read and edit open content through, eventually.

What's the server setup that the Metaweb is running on?

The server is a HP/Compaq DL360 G2 with dual Pentium III processors running at 1.4 Ghz with 1 Gbyte of memory. It has two 72 Gbyte disks which are mirrored to each other in case either one fails.

Software wise, we're running the latest RedHat 9 with all security RPMs applied, using MySQL's MySQL 4.0.15 RPMs and our self-compiled Apache 1.3.28 and PHP 4.3.3.

What internet connectivity do we have?

We're on a T1, so be nice to us. Our php.ini has zlib.output_compression turned on, which will reduce bandwidth usage.

Do you have web site statistics?

See Special:Statistics for numbers related to Metaweb website and backend database.

See Metaweb Orca Statistics for statistics regarding the physical server the Metaweb is on. This shows statistics such as CPU, memory, IO, swap usage and much more.