I propose here a change or addition to Fedwiki to make the integration with Wikipedia (and Other MediaWikis), more seamless.
The idea here is to make it possible to make simple links that point to Wikipedia articles, but also enable Future Linking to imported local articles.
To be precise: * If there exists an internal Fedwiki Page we link there * if not we link to an external Wikipedia Article via the existing / a modified form of the Create New Blank Page screen.
This would allow bulk importation of useful links using tools such as the Mediawiki Transport tool. Currently Wikipedia links are imported as internal Fedwiki links in order to faciitate further import of content. however this means we fail to preserve existing links to Wikipedia content in cases where we have not bothered to create / import these additional pages - which is a pity.
While it could be possible (and may be desirable) to simply modify the default behavior of Internal Wiki Links, we can also restrict this behavior to a new link markup.
The syntax i am proposing for this type of link would use the standard "pipe" notation for wikipedia links. Any internal wiki link that contains a "pipe" ("|") character would then use this new automatic link to Wikipedia functionality.
So a link to the Wikipedia article on hypertext" would be entered like this:
and look like this when no Fedwiki Page for "Hypertext" exists:
See Hypertext on wikipedia for more information.
but look like this when a Fedwiki Page for "Hypertext" already exists in the neighbourhood:
See Hypertext for more information.