Response below,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith N. McKenna [mailto:keith.mcke...@comcast.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 18:39
> To: doc@openoffice.apache.org
> Subject: Re: Rebooting the Documentation Effort
[ ... ]
> 
> It is all well and good to talk about having the more experienced
> project people take a role in assigning tasks et. al. However we are in
> the position we are in because we do not have the experienced people. We
> were told on the dev list to go ahead and create a doc mailing list and
> make the decisions on how the documentation should be structured and all
> that. Now we are being told that we should be making those decisions on
> the dev list. Personally I had enough political and turf battles when I
> worked in the corporate world; I certainly do not need them now that I
> am retired and doing this on a volunteer basis.
> 
> I have done what I am able to do and I will step back and others more
> qualified battle it out. I hope that you can find a solution but I am
> not sanguine on that score. As is often the case on large and small
> projects alike, Documentation is the bastard child that nobody likes
> admit exists.
> 
> Regards
> Keith
[orcmid] 

Keith,

Please.  I am saying that things like voting aren't part of how ASF projects 
work on a routine basis, nor is assigning tasks something that is done.  We can 
discuss separately how one operates instead while still having a coordinated 
effort.

The idea is to operate by consensus.  And people are permitted to act.  On the 
wiki, as for other tools, nothing is irreversible, and mistakes are easily 
corrected.  If disagreements arise, let's worry about that whenever something 
like that happens.

I assume a lot of silent consensus is the case with those who operate here.

But for major things, that do require deliberation, the only mechanism is at 
dev@ where the whole community is involved.  I have no idea what one of those 
might be for work on the documentation.  So far, I know of no need.

Voluntary activity is just that and it should continue where it fits best.  
None of this suggests the contributors to the wiki need to change anything.

I only want to point out to Dave that we don't operate by creating leadership 
structures, voting on who those are, etc.  I was agreeing, as I expect you do 
also, that having some seasoned writers and people who know the product well 
would be very helpful in advancing the documentation.

No one voted for you, you rolled up your sleeves and you are making this 
amazing effort.  People respect what you are doing and participate.  You are 
supporting the wiki roster and authorization of editors as a volunteer task.  I 
don't recall there being any high ceremony involved.

That is how it is meant to work.

Take a breath, please.

 - Dennis







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