RepRap on Wikipedia

Hello Library gnomes,

I thought I'd come by and point out that the RepRap article on Wikipedia is severely out of date. With all of the attention being given to keeping the RepRap's own wiki up to date, I thought I'd just mention that Wikipedia should not slip through the cracks. Wikipedia will often be the first place that a curious person will go, and if the article is permanently mired in 2006, they'll get the impression that RepRap's ambition has outdone its act. That would be very sad indeed. But with a lot of media focus being given to projects like Makerbot, BfB, or even HP's rebrand of Stratasys printers, perhaps that's what is actually happening. It sure seems easy to write off the RepRap as a failure if it looks like it hasn't gone anywhere.

The article is really in need of a complete overhaul, which is why I'm writing here instead of doing it myself. Progress has advanced so far beyond what's described there that there's no way I could do it myself.

Many aspects of the project that it identifies as future potential possibilities have actually already been completed. For example -

On software:

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Wikipedia
Work on RepRap's CAM system also being written in Java is currently in an advanced state of development. That work is being pursued by both Simon McAuliffe and Adrian Bowyer and is being tested as part of the RepRap 0.1 shakedown exercises.

In fact, software is much farther along than this by now! We have a well-developed Java Host, as well as Skeinforge, and ReplicatorG.

On hardware:

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Wikipedia
While the RepRap project was formally launched in March 2005, the rate of hardware development exploded after the development of the Mk II polymer extruder by Dr. Bowyer in November 2005.[10] The Mk II represents a major advance in the state-of-the-art in that it can operate in a room temperature environment rather than a closed box heated to a temperature just short of the melting point of the polymer being extruded.

The Mk II is no longer the state of the art, by a long shot. Stepper-driven geared and Bowden-cable extruders are.

On prototypes:

The article focuses on "Da Witch" and "Zaphod", early RepRaps built by Vik Olliver, and phrased to appear current. Other statements that may not be true:

Quote
Wikipedia
Other full prototypes at various stages of development are presently being built by Sells and Bellmore.

These prototypes would go on to become Darwin and Mendel, correct? Certainly not "presently" being built.

Quote
Wikipedia
To date virtually all RepRap prototypes have been repstrapped.

If expressed as a ratio, counting Makerbots, this might be true. But in absolute terms, there's a large number of replicated RepRaps by now, including the one I've built.

I've already deleted the entire section called "Current Status" because it was so obviously not current. But there's clearly a lot more cleanup to be done.


Presenting the appearances that RepRap is still the way it was four years ago is putting a bad face forward to the public, and I hope we can correct it quickly.

The article is really in need of a complete overhaul, which is why I'm writing here instead of doing it myself. Progress has advanced so far beyond what's described there that there's no way I could do it myself.
I think you've got a better idea of what the article needs than I do.

jbayless ... congratulations! You're a Library Gnome.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Hooray

Okay, I'll get started after exams...

OK, major edits underway.

I hope that nobody objects to me deleting many of the things that are already there. If anyone does, please shout loudly...

Edit - Done for now. I've completely overhauled the article and scrapped the stuff that was seriously out of date. It could still use some more up-to-date images.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2010 11:50PM by jbayless.

Looks good! But what about chocolate, man?

What about chocolate?

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Haha... No chocolate for you!

If someone actually builds a reprap that extrudes chocolate, then we can put it on wikipedia.

But what about Wikipedia's Notability Guidelines?
[en.wikipedia.org]

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

I think those are on my side ^__^