Secret+Sauce+to+Wikis

Why do Wikis work so well? There are five elements that, in combination, are the "secret sauce" to wikis:
 * 1) You edit in them in a browser, without the need for specilized programs;
 * 2) You can link to uncreated pages, so the organization of the wiki can be created on the fly--without interfering with creativity or interrupting the thought process;
 * 3) Wikis keep a chronological history for every page, so nothing is lost forever, no changes can be completely destructive, and revisions can always be undone;
 * 4) Wikis include a discussion area, so there can be a dialog about changes before, during, and after they are being made;
 * 5) And finally, and in some ways most significantly, you can monitor a wiki or a particular page and receive notification of any changes to that page--which is why an error in a site like Wikipedia can be corrected in a matter of a few minutes.