People with some experience developing or using Web technologies are sometimes quick to write off wiki. "Oh, yes, it's a great idea, but it could never work, because…" This page describes some common ways that people describe the impossibility of wiki, and the ways that wiki continues to thrive despite those impossibilities.
Thus, SoftSecurity to the rescue. See also: WhyWikiDoesntFailShortVersion, WhyWikiWorks, SoftSecurity, CommunitySolution, CommunityExpectation, WikisVsModerationSystems, WikiSecurityFeatures, AuthorshipCredit.
The real reason a wiki does not work is when SoftSecurity fails: When there is no community doing the PeerReview. It is a question of energy and persistence, motivation and attrition: If PeerReview is boring and repetitive, it won't be done.
WikiSource should be as PlainText as possible.
CategoryWhyWiki CategoryIntroductionToWiki
I moved the info on this page from WhyWikiWorks, since I didn't think SoftSecurity was the be-all and end-all of why wiki works. Wiki has a lot of positive qualities besides its resistance to attack. I figured that it was better to answer the dismissal, "Well, that will never work!" here than there.
Good idea.
I moved the older content to a page WhyWikiDoesntFailShortVersion; I think it's good to maintain a really short version of introductory pages, because many people (myself included) just won't take much time to read about why something new isn't infeasible.