I would like to add the wiki extension Widgets parser function to our wiki, and am looking for feedback from others in the editing community.

What it is and what it offers us:

The Widgets extension allows the creation of raw HTML pages that can be embedded (similarly to templates) in normal wiki pages. You do this by creating pages in the Widget namespace. They avoid the security problems of raw HTML in editable wiki pages because the privilege to edit in the Widget namespace is managed. Many pre-written Widgets are available.

One of the very beneficial uses of this extension is the ability to embed an <iframe> in a wiki page.

This comes in handy when trying to embed (part of) a Google Spreadsheet into a wiki page. For example the US State Managers maintain a sheet which lists all the SMs by their state with their username, rank, and other private info. This sheet is kept up to date by the SMs and the respective Champs. It has also been requested several times for there to be an easy access place in the wiki to locate the SM of a particular state similar to the Regional Coordinators page. Now since the SM position can be fluid with a lot of promotions etc. the list is constantly in flux. Having to maintain a second list in the wiki, is just double work, and error prone. Since the SMs use the Google list for other things, as well, it is always kept up to date. Now we can publish a portion of that sheet online for public view, which is always kept in sync with the sheet, without revealing any of the other private data on the sheet. Currently we can't embed this list into our wiki to display on the SM page, it is only able to be presented as a link which must be clicked on to open an external page. If we had this extension on our wiki, we could embed the table in the wiki page for seamless viewing.

This is just one example of the Widgets extension being useful to us. Given the proliferation of Google sheets, Slides, and Forms throughout Waze, this functionality could easily be expanded to be very useful in other parts of the wiki as well. The Formal Mentoring application form could be displayed directly in the Formal Mentoring wiki page to be filled out and submitted. The same goes for the Road Closures request form. Slide shows explaining difficult concepts could be embedded directly into the relevant pages where appropriate. This has the potential to truly enhance our wiki, and make it more user friendly.

Safety:
An obvious issue jumps to mind, this could present a security threat. There's a potential for abuse with malicious content. There can be malicious code created and installed that would not affect the Wiki, but could be a source for problems to users that go to the page if unwanted changes are made. That does create an exposure for Waze to some degree. They are not liable legally, but it could lead to very bad impressions.

To address this first lets look at what the extension author writes in the description; "They avoid the security problems of raw HTML in editable wiki pages because the privilege to edit in the Widget namespace is managed. Many pre-written Widgets are available."
Second we have control over which types of code are allowed to run using this extension, which again would be managed by the wiki administrators.
Third our wiki only allows changes from registered users, so anyone editing the wiki would be doing so from a logged IP, and thereby the threat may be reduced.
Fourth this likely is not any more dangerous than visiting any Wikipedia page, and they seem to be doing OK, if a problem ever was created, it would be very easy to undo those edits, and remove the malicious code.

Community
This boils down to the community. There are obvious pros and cons to this software, even if only to a small degree. I'm not a computer scientist, an can't vouch the complete and impenetrable safety of this extension, but in my opinion the benefits outweigh the risks. The question is now up to all of you, the editors community:
Do you feel this extension would help waze, and improve our wiki experience?
Do you think we should, or should not implement this extension in our wiki installation?

If there is a positive consensus, we can approach Waze Management and ask them for approval. Please respond if you think this is a good idea or not. Show your support if you'd like to see these features available. Express your concerns, if you feel that's appropriate. Let's come to communal decision in the true sense of Waze, to determine if this is a good idea.