I have read the entire thread but replying to each person it's to cumbersome to me right now.
I've been using the wiki since i've been attached to the project 2 or 3 years, can't remeber. My main use for the wiki has been for blueprints and for that specific task it's probably one of the best tools out there. What do I use? * bullet lists * tables * inline comments * sections * basic text formatting: bold, italics, underline, lowerscript, upperscript. * images * links (external and internal) * even some math formulas there are some more... * categories * history of each file * page watch for changes
I use all of this all the time. Before you to throw it away think that many of us are using many features easily available in wikimedia. Does proposed alternatives have all of this?
Now, let's get to the wiki/website problem: I agree on that the content on the wiki and the website is unbalanced. Many wiki pages should be in the webpage, using the wiki for low entry information just spells "read me but don't trust me! i'll change anytime!!" which discourages people.
Let's keep in mind that the project has grown a lot and the webpage has been left behind as scaffold suffering little evolution. To me that's the underlying problem. So let's find a solution for that instead of discussing our subjective liking for any particular tool.
Substituting a tool (wikimedia) for other (reStructuredText or whatever other) won't help the underlying problem. In fact it won't change it at all. Just picture it, you change it and what you get? the same disproportionate division between website and wiki, only that now you have a tool more akin to your liking (while other people might hate it).
BTW: reStructuredTex *also* has syntax.
What I suggest is to agree first on what contents should be in the website (HTML, CSS, JScript, etc) and move them there. Make it user friendly, direct, easy to read and updated. Having clear goals will help keeping it upgraded, the wiki it's too fragmented which leads to progressive stagnation. Sometimes I've asked in IRC about some wiki pages only to find out that no one knew if a particular story was still current or not. Imagine a newbie in this situation.
Articles like blueprints or release notes depend heavily on a tool that allows good formatting and collaborative edits. For me, it would a pity to leave wikimedia because I like it, however I can adapt to another solution as long as it's as good. Checking reStructuredText/Sphinx for the first time, don't seem objectively better. In fact I could cite several deficiencies.