Forum:Wikis with limited public access?

If one were interested in creating a wiki that would be designed to try and attract experts in a particular academic field, would it be at all possible to create a wiki with the following features:


 * 1) Limit article edits to experts
 * 2) Allow general public editting access to things like discussion pages and forums


 * ~ Jaywin

This could be possible. However, you would have to make each person who is an "expert" have administrative powers. You then would lock the site. Remember, though, with administrative powers you control the whole site, not just a specific page. The so called "experts" could ruin the site. Would you really want these powers in the hands of someone you have never (ever) met. Plus, what makes an "expert". Also, you never really (truly) know who you are talking to through the computer. Meaning they could have little knowledge of the field but "pretend" they know a lot.--Sportman 23:28, 22 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, all you'd half to do is create a new tag expert and duplicate makesysop for a makeexpert which would allow admins to give the expert tag to certain users. You'd then set the namespace permissions so that the experts can edit the normal pages, but registered users could only edit the odd numbered namespaces (talkpages are odd, articles are even). But Wikia is a place for open community involvement. A restrictive wiki like that wouldn't be permitted here. ~Dantman(talk) Mar 23, 2007 @ 01:54 (UTC) 01:54, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

University wikis
OK. But Wikia is experimenting with university wikis right now with limited public access. (The only editors are students, staff, and alumni of certain universities.) So why not have an experiment in academic wikis where the only editors of articles are experts/professionals in the particular subject area of the wiki? ~ Jaywin