QUOTE(Michaeldsuarez @ Thu 26th August 2010, 10:01am)
What are some alternatives to MediaWiki, and how do they compare to MediaWiki? Feel free to visit
WikiMatrix.
You have to be really careful if you're going to vary from MediaWiki. A lot of these fly-by-night wikis are here today, gone tomorrow. Even when they seem to have an active community, when the founders lose interest, the hangers-on drift away.
I found that out with PmWiki. It's an interesting idea that uses flat files instead of a database. I still love it in many ways, but the areas that needed improvement never got addressed.
Yes, MediaWiki is a little too close for comfort to the Wikimedia Foundation, but I'm willing to live with it. I also realize that many programmers are horrified by the code and that there are more elegant solutions out there. Still, it's what Wikipedia uses, and as long as Wikipedia is in the top 10 most popular sites, MediaWiki will be around and supported.
Of course, I don't know you. If you're a really good programmer, and can do a lot of the work yourself, then it might be worth messing with a wiki that's going to require more TLC.
examples of similar wikis:
Encyc (MediaWiki) and
Encyc PmWikiSee also:
this thread.