User:Sj/Log/Wiki mindset

There is a world of difference between having a tool and knowing how to use it, and between knowing how to use it and making it an extension of oneself -- knowing how that tool sees the world, being able to reinterpret any situation in that context. The expression "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" has both positive and negative aspects. There is utility in being able to see the nail-like aspect of any problem, whether or not there is a hammer handy (in particular, one should regularly be considering how important it is to find a hammer, if one is not).

When it comes to wikis - there is much more to effectively implementing an open collaborative content aggregator than having and using one. Content workflows with detailed roles (protection, privacy segmentation, &c), continuing use of other information channels for public sharable knowledge (email, whiteboards, phone calls, ticket systems) that don't pass through the wiki -- all of these limit the scalability and efficacy of a wiki's openness.