As you might know already, there is a fine FAQ on this site (maintained by Steve Ringlee) that focuses on the 700 and 900 series Volvos. I have heard again and again that people wish they could find a FAQ for newer models.
I have been actively participating in some encyclodpedia, knowledge-base type sites. An example is wikipedia.com. The 'wiki' concept might seem odd at first glance. In a nutshell, it's a site that you have full access to edit. If you were a pessimist, you'd say well that's going to be worthless as it is whittled down to the lowest common denominator. I thought this myself. However, my experience has proven otherwise. These sites are fantastic sources of information and keep getting better.
An example interactive experience with a wiki was when I was researching political figures from the early 20th century. I found a page that had a bit too much zeal to be credible. I paired down the opinion and checked and double-checked the facts on the particular subject. Later, someone came in and cleaned it up a bit more and turned some of the subjects into links. The links were themselves turned into pages of information.
So let's say we write a page about the 850. We talk about the features. We might discuss the critics. A paragraph (off the top of my head):
> The 850 was the first Volvo car to have front wheel drive.
So I read this. But I know a lot about drive trains. I want to write up a page about 'front wheel drive'. So I edit the page:
> The 850 was the first Volvo car to have [front wheel drive].
I save and bring up the page again. Now 'front wheel drive' is a link, it's clickable. I click on it. I find that someone has beaten me to it. I read through the article that someone else has already written. It's fine, but it could use some more information. So I edit away, adding my knowledge to the page. I might also find myself typing models that have front wheel drive. When I type 850, I add the brackets and it links back to the page from which we started.
I want to get a read on how interested you all would be about this. I plan to startup a wiki as soon as I find time (and I am really strapped for time lately). I think, over time, this will make the site a lot more valuable to Volvo owners.
And to be honest, I am interested in the technology and plan to engage in coding an open source implementation. So that's my other motive.
Essentially, this will be a FAQ that is mutable. Over time, given attention by the kind of people who frequent this site, I think it will become an incredibly valuable resource.
-JSBB
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