A new Ubuntu user wants to try Xubuntu on an older machine. He goes to the wiki, follows the instructions, boots from his Edgy CD … and can’t find the prompt for step 2, where you type in the word “server.”

It’s not his fault: That wiki page is almost a year old, and hasn’t been updated in almost as long. Two releases have gone by and both have included full Xubuntu CDs, but there’s been no change to the wiki, no update to the installation procedure, and no way of showing new Ubuntu folks that the core installation process for Xubuntu has changed.

This, to me, is unacceptable. I grind my teeth just thinking about it.

I promote the wiki a lot, but I’m coming to the realization that the Ubuntu wiki is slipping behind — particularly when compared to the Gentoo wiki, or even the Arch wiki. If the wiki is to be a valuable tool for the community, it needs better attention. There’s little use in advocating it now, especially if some of the material hasn’t been updated in years.

I’m going to see if I can recruit off the forums to join me in a wiki rampage. One hour of surfing the wiki, looking for outdated pages and obsolete material would be more than enough to get the ball rolling.