Jan 30, 2013

Wikispaces: a frustrating uncertainty

As I established in one of my previous posts, working with Wikispaces is not very difficult. You need some time to get used to how it works and if you have some experience it will come in handy. But this post is not about what working with Wikispaces is like. It is about how publishing with Wikispaces is a test of your patience.
I reported that you need to pay one dollar to verify your account in order to make your wiki public. After my teacher was kind enough to pay the dollar via Googlewallet we expected to just simply make click in the permissions section and we'd be online so to speak. But neither me -the creator- nor my teacher -admin herself- were able to do exactly that. So I gave up and started to search for an alternative. I was not interested in using an online platform that made it so difficult to publish a simple wiki. Especially when they are advertising how easy and free it is.
And just moments ago -when I was checking just for fun- I was able to make it public. I honestly do not know what made the difference. All of a sudden I was able to change the permission settings. On the one hand I'm glad -mainly because I had no time yet to start the new wiki-, on the other hand it would have been nice of them to drop a note on how long after paying you will have to wait.
I still have mixed feelings about Wikispaces. I like it as a working platform and the options for visual customization help to create a more individual wiki. But the hole process to finally get your work published is excruciating. Especially if you do not have a credit card an therefore can not pay. If Wikispaces adds more payment services and works out its little kinks it could become a powerful online tool. Till then you will have to know what you are doing and what you want from your hosting service. There are many free alternatives.

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