Why are wikis important?

Wiktionary and Wikipedia aside, why are wikis important?
So companies don't have to pay for their own tech support sites?
What exactly is a wiki though? Please post in lay terms.
Originally posted by econo:
What exactly is a wiki though? Please post in lay terms.
It's the background noise to old-school hip-hop.

wiki wiki wiki
so that all of my nerdy needs to be fed for 'heroes' is compact into one user-friendly database.

see? i'm a terrible nerd.
So wikis are compact user interfaces? A single point to get information?
Originally posted by econo:
What exactly is a wiki though? Please post in lay terms.
Why don't you just wiki it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
Originally posted by econo:
What exactly is a wiki though? Please post in lay terms.
From Wikipedia, no less…

A wiki is a collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work."

Say you have documentation for "Task A" at your workplace. A paper copy of that documentation can be easily lost, hard to find, rarely updated, and often out-dated. On the other hand, a wiki can be accessed anywhere you have online access, can be easily found via bookmarking, and readily updated whenever the procedures for Task A change.
I had no idea this world of wikis existed. The quote one could be useful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wikis
Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
It's the background noise to old-school hip-hop.

wiki wiki wiki
Alas, today's hip-hop is wikity wikity wikity wack. :D
wiki = communism
Awesome. Thanks dhinojwala.

Originally posted by dhinojwala:
Say you have documentation for "Task A" at your workplace. A paper copy of that documentation can be easily lost, hard to find, rarely updated, and often out-dated. On the other hand, a wiki can be accessed anywhere you have online access, can be easily found via bookmarking, and readily updated whenever the procedures for Task A change.
Dude, you're totally missing Wikimania2007