The first commit in git is from 2008. https://github.com/trogdoro/xiki/commits/master?page=17 From http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/778419-meet-xiki-the-re... it turns out than "Craig Muth, has been working on Xiki for ten years". Maybe not a mature project but not an early stage one.

I think the opposite is true: If the cultural norm here was to insist on good, simple installation and basic usage tutorials, then we'd see more of them and everyone would benefit.

This doesn't imply that you can't share rough, buggy prototypes. It just means that before you do, it would be expected that you spend more time guiding people to get up and running and pointing out possible pitfalls.

I'd argue that in many cases this doesn't even take that much time and yet is the single most important thing you can do when sharing.

Note: I'm just addressing your general point and not making a comment on xiki's install process in particular.