I was just looking at the Portland Pattern Repository, the original Wiki, at the DocTest page, and I thought I'd add some notes in response to the discussion. This text showed up at the top of the edit screen:

Advice to visitors: Spam is not allowed on this site. Unwanted links are removed before indexing is allowed. If you are new here, please consider reading GoodStyle before contributing. If you just want to try out how Wiki works, please edit WikiWikiSandbox instead of existing pages or adding new ones. Thank you.

And you have to type a "code word" to save the text -- not a CAPTCHA, but some unknown word. I look around a little, and figure I'll try editing the sandbox. Maybe they are being cute and the word is "the code word"? Well, no, doesn't work and "this has been logged". OK, whatever. But they were serious -- now I'm forbidden from even reading the site. Geez. I know wiki spam is a big problem, but how the hell was I supposed to figure that out? And now I'm forbidden? That's the most unfriendly system I've ever seen on a Wiki... and such a jump, from total trust to complete obscurity, just like that. Is the spirit of WikiWiki dead?

OK... maybe I'm being melodramatic. By the time I've written this I can get back in. Looking at Have Eye Been Banned the Wiki has indeed become closed to public editing. Some more discussion on EditCodeWord. Transitional, I guess. Sigh. Hell, if it's temporarily closed they should just say so, without the mysterious code word.