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I love wikis, I love Wikipedia, I love working collaboratively, and I love that wikis are a reflection of our society-- they show us what topics we as a society value.  I am totally 100% in favour of them. Yet, I totally agree with the article When wikis won't work: 10 questions to ask before full adoption.

 
In order for wikis to work, your community needs to be willing to contribute. This point is re-enforced in Luis Suarez's article.  Not every library or every topic should have a wiki. There are several wikies I have stumbled on while working on GCPEDIA, that lack information, and collaboration. Looking at these wikies, one can see why they are unsuccessful.
l  They are far too specific
l  It is the wrong application for the community-- perhaps the use of a blog or forum would be more effective.
 
Wikis also require a change in the way your community thinks. Instead of posting completed items, wikis are best suited for ideas, or articles that require feedback, and contribution from other users.  They live in perpetual beta-- nothing is ever complete. If it is a finished draft, a secret or your want to be the  only contributor to an article, a wiki is probably not the best place for your content. 
 
The most effective wikis that I have accessed are based on a topic that can grow horizontally-- like wikipeida, wikimapia (if you haven't checked this out, do it! It's so cool), wikicommons, and Wikiversity. These wikies provide a place where experts from many different disciplines can get together to share information. If your community contains a wide array of knowledge, and expertises, perhaps a wiki would suite your needs.  
 
The wiki that I am working on for the federal government (GCPEDIA) is effective, as it connects federal departments across Canada. Many of the users on GCPEDIA have very little in common, other than the fact that they all work for the Government of Canada. GCPEDIA is preserving the governments corporate memory by allowing all users to contribute at the same time, without going through a bureaucratic process. GCPEIDA has taken off. More than 3,000 users have signed up in less than a year. Perhaps your community is a business your organization that will face a large demographic of retirees; if so, then a wiki may be the appropriate application for your community.
 
Before developing a wiki for your community, consider the 99, 9, 1 theory; (It’s a pretty cool theory!  http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/90-9-1+Theory ). The theory says:

• 90% of users are "lurkers" (i.e. they read or browse but don't contribute)
• 9% of users contribute from time to time, but other priorities dominate their time
• 1% of users participate very often and account for most of the contributions

Will this be a reflection of your community? Will a wiki engage them? Will you be able to raise that important 10% to generate content? If you do, will the lurkers come to your wiki for information?
 
Wikis can be an effective tool for any community; they just need to be the right tool. As with most web 2.0 applications, it is so important to know your community, and learn which application will allow your users to accesses information quickly. After all, what good is a wiki if it’s only for wikis sake?