Sorry for the ads here, but I'd like to invite all interested to a discussion about a possible future WikiMarkupStandard, which harmonizes a few basic rules, so users can more easily switch between sites with different Wikis.

http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?WikiMarkupStandardWorkingGroup

It hasn't started yet. Initial debates and decisions are expected to be lengthy, so feel free to join later - there will be final votings if it has an outcome at all (difficult because all the markup is already so divorced; therefore it can only ever be a massive collection of compromises).

We need the input of as many WikiEngine developers and users as possible, so we get the best possible out; and the more people agree on it, the better. Since TWiki is commercially accepted and a very widespread variant, your opinions and thoughs are highly welcome of course.

It's not yet negotiated, but we'll probably vote for a "text/wiki" mime type that allows "Content-Type: text/wiki; variant=twiki" and such. The document will only be a recommendation and still allow for all custom extensions IMO. It's also possible that we think beyond WikiWikiWeb and try to standardize wiki text also for use in EMail (could be useful for mailing lists like yours or the WMSWG list).

Input and personal preferences are welcome, and if we know it from the start, there'll be lesser incompatibilites and problems. Nobody expects every Wiki engine to adopt what comes out, and everybody had surely to wait one your or longer, before that happened anyhow...

Mario Salzer <mario@erphesfurt.de>