Well, I've read through a bit and done a search on the error message here, so I guess I'm justified in making this post.
I downloaded this version
http://www.splitbrain.org/_media/projects/dokuwiki/dokuwiki-2009-02-14.tgz, copied up the files and received the following error message upon going to the site:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '<' in .../inc/lang/en/lang.php on line 256
Any ideas? Comments? Please assume that I am minimally competent.
Edited to add: By the way, I did the same the other day on another wiki of mine on the same server, without issues.