THIS IS A LONG POST DESCRIBING MY EXPERIENCE WITH MOST HOSTED WIKIS.

The wikimatrix.org Choice Wizard gave me
18 hosted wiki solutions.

I immediately eliminated
* Samepage for op system and file storage restrictions
* nexdo, for lack of page permissions
* Cospire, Clearwiki and @wiki for lack of revision diffs (maybe hastily, tell me)
* @wiki and groupswiki for too many missing info (may not be their fault)

I registered and tried out ALL the remaining ones, my impressions follow.       

Metadot

Easy registration (no license or terms and conditions or verification mail!)
By far the most functional of all

* the only one where full featured wysyswyg editing worked on my browser (Opera)

metadot answered my support request within an hour! Here is an excerpt:

> | this site is by far the best among hosted wikis
> but in order to decide if I want to use it, upgrade to a plan, I need some information
>
> * is there a forum where users discuss the use of THIS SITE (i.e., not mojo,metadot server, etc.)

You can add a 'discussion' gizmo.

This was misunderstood. Unfortunately there seems to be no discussion forum about
the hosted metadot service itself.

> * where is search? is there a search option? if not how can I include one as a blurb? through a google searchbar or what?
No search yet. You can add a google custom search like we did at
  http://mojowiki.metadot.net

This looks like a real dealbreaker...

> * are there tags? yes I saw there are metatags, but what can you do with them?
These becomes html meta tags (in the HTML source code). It's useful for Google.

No tags then.

> * is there export functionality? to export pages into html,. xml, pdf and most importantly export the site/wiki?
Export is in the manage menu.

> * how can you generate/see backlinks?

Nope. (contrary to matrix)

Socialtext


known features
* editing does not work :-) on opera that is
* wysywyg does work on safari but simple editing does not
the toolbar is impoverished though

* very nice site, help ok easy to use
* tags
* html code include between .html

* attachments to pages but can show all files in a workspace (all? how browsable?)

* installing styles requires contacting support!!!!

When you are ready to view your style on your workspace, send your screen.css, and any image assets required for the style to support@socialtext.com. Include your account ID and workspace name and we will install your style by the end of the following business day.

* Starting a new page requires first going baack to the dashboard. This should be spared.
It should be directly available from everywhere by default.
ALso, when search returns no results, the result page should offer the option of editing
a new page with the searchterm as title. THe same way as Wikipedia and virtually all other
wikis. I see no reason for eliminating this wellknown and easy-to-use feature.
All in all after 20 minutes I couldn't start a new page.

* Support didn't reply to my mail


Netcipia


* VERY SLOW!!!!!!!!!

* no register link on the front page. You have to use your intelligence that clicking myNetcipia will take you to the page where you create an account.
(Note that it is among links like 'participate' and 'sign-in' which are false hooks)
You call me dumb but this is a warning for all internet businesses. I almost left because I didn't find how to create an account after 2 minutes.

* Plus the site was so slow that it didn't direct to my account after 5 minutes.
But I got the email about my new account, so I logged in ok.

* ONce inside: good first impression

* When editing a page though, it says your browser is non compatible

Netcipia is optimized for FireFox, Internet Explorer (IE) 6 and IE 7 are also supported.

* terminology - page - space - place (MyNetcipia)

* place/page etc rights can be nicely set


* help support right hand side, but its a FAQ and only like 10 questions

* contact via web form

* toolbox on the right by default with import, export etc.
it seems one can export a whole place as a zipped package, and reimport it,
which is nice

* pdf for current page
got  error message Wrong user name ???

* comments and attachments
to upload a file you need too many clicks (1 attachments, 2 choose file, 3 upload)

* when trying to upload a file I got the message
Service Temporarily Unavailable
it worked a second time 5 mins later

I sent the following message via the webform:

Is this the proper forum to submit bug reports/strage features/requests?

* when I press PDF on a page, it gives me Wrong user name error page.

* I don't understand the import facility
I attach a file, press import and it says there are no attached files!
Q: is it possible to import (not paste, but import) html, pdf, etc files as new wiki pages?

* Are there tags/keywords/page qualifiers on Netcipia?

i got this reply

14 September 2007 03:43:32
Hello,

It is the proper place to submit bug report

* About PDF export: yes there is currently a bug, introduced by a minor update. We are working on this at the moment and it should be solved very soon.

* You can't import html, pdf, text files with import function (you can only attach it to a page). The import feature is made to import package of  wiki pages that have been previously exported (with the export feature).

* The tag system is currently in test, it should be released next week. it will allow to tag any page, add a Tag Cloud panel, see Tags list, Pages that have the same tag.. classical tag system that is

Hopefully i answered your questions. Be sure we are doing our best to improve us and your feedback is helping us a lot !

PBWiki


You directly create your wiki on the main page. Good point.

Email confirmation and bingo.

Password and settings, stepwise intro nice.

Video showing the 4 easy steps

Impressive,. nice look and feel.

but tag addition, tools are difficult to find

10MB-5GB storage limit
free, small biz/education focus

a bit small too.
predefined templates are a bit patronizing.

basic simple editing went ok
but wysywyg got me a non-compatibility note.

We have a new PBwiki Editor, but...
This page is on Yummy, the Official PBwiki Wiki about PBwiki, not the wiki you were just editing

Unfortunately, your browser isn't compatible. We want you to have access, though, so we recommend two things:
Learn about our new editor. It includes WYSIWYG editing; plugins for importing YouTube videos, photo slideshows, shared calendars; easy file attachments; and more.
Download a compatible browser (e.g., Firefox with Google Toolbar)

Once you install the new browser and return to your wiki, you'll be able to switch to the new Editor mode.

premium accounts with CSS enabled are capable of redefining the look of their wikis by defining their own CSS styles in a wiki.css file that they then upload.

html embeds don't work properly (broken lines are incorrectly parsed)

the help system seems good too, organized in FAQ format

deleting, renaming your wiki, contact support (via a limited form page)

tags a bit peripheral, but exist

search reasonable

lots of discussion about import/export on forum pages
no solutions yet

create pdf of current page is available

seems active


Scribblewiki


launched in June 2007

promises live chat support
surely no operators were available when I tried

requires one to choose a wiki category (arts, business, etc. no idea what hinges on it, but seems an annoyance)
verification mail

basically wikipedia look
with google ads on your page, so I guess powered by default mediawiki

no help page yet

protect/accessibility settings are very rudimentary and somewhat criptic too.

contrary to the info on wikimatrix
no import, export facilities found, no wysywyg editing facility found


Wetpaint

For optimal Wetpaint performance we recommend the latest versions of Internet Explorer or Firefox. For Mac users, we recommend Firefox instead of Safari.

nice start

works perfectly

choose among styles at startup

ads by google. too many ads in fact.

keyword tags
invite, attach, edit, new, watch on the right

basic, easy, cool
but no import, export


Wikispaces


create wiki in two clicks!

backup/full space export in HTML in one click

license-aware, Creative Commons friendly
nice you can choose a license for your content !

deleting space as a direct click from manage settings

list pages, files, upload

import blog is criptic feature?

by default the site is protected (edit protected, that is), the public can still view it.
the plus plan is $5/month to make view private!

a handful of predefined styles at a click

custom styles in the plus plan
very slick customizable styles

no ads!

tags when edit
no specific tag search though

help page is not verbose but exists and ok

import not discussed

edit ok, not wysyswyg

very basic editor...toolbar
I couldn't find undo! CTRL-z didn't work either!

no proper way to embed, import html

code highlighting is supported though


Seedwiki



I couldn't create my wiki.
It took me to a page with a tiny 6pt 'error' on top (seriously)
when I clicked the submit bug report link, it took me to a wiki, which I should have edited probably.
This doesn't look something very serious....


Stikipad

allows nice privacy settings for the whole wiki

choose editor, supports textile, markdown and wysyswyg
well, it didn't give me the wysywyg one:

Unfortunately the text editor is currently only available for Internet Explorer and Firefox (we know, we know, but we promise Safari will be available as soon as we can!)

all settings changeable after under configure

tags entered right under the edit window
"Simple, one-word category names. Separated by spaces."

allows googlemaps to embed using simple tags

content licenses

for exort look at the small print in the bottom

Make a personal backup of the data in this StikiPad by saving one of these files to your computer.

HTML - export all of your data in HTML format, pre-formatted and easily viewed in your favorite browser. Individual files are written using the page name and wrapped in a zip file with working links.

Markup - export all of your data in Markup format, the same way it looks while you're editing a page (including any bold, italic or paragraph formatting).

can

Keep a trail of breadcrumbs (previously visited pages)

Embed discussions as part of the wiki page (blog-style)

Automatically generate Table of Contents