[mstngl]

What makes me using Obsidian / Zettlr rather then a wiki is that they use just text files (in markdown syntax) you point the app to. You are not locked in with any of the apps, more specific wiki syntax or wiki infrastructure and are very free to sync or back-up all the contents.

Do you have any plain-file (i.e. non-database) wiki in mind which provides auto-linking and simple tagging?

[ColinWright]

I'm using the wiki I wrote in about 1998 when I first encountered the C2 wiki. It uses plain text files, and in addition to using mark-down style link syntax, the latest version auto-links from free-text without requiring any special markup. That reduces the friction further.

But what you are saying here is "Yes, it's basically just a wiki, but using plain text files underneath, and without using a specific app or database".

This isn't a criticism, it's just me hunting for understanding from the huge heap of hype. Every description I read seems to lead me to:

(a) It's just a wiki, and

(b) It's not doing what Luhmann says his Zettelkasten did.

So I'm finding the excitement very mysterious, and keen to find out what I'm missing.