>From my perspective even someone who has just visited the documenation
can help make it better. Sure, they still have to decide that they
want to, but that does not mean they cannot contribute. Imagine
someone new coming to the community and rather than saying "wow, the
documenation is no good" says "hey I had trouble understanding the
chapter on controllers, could someone detail what the actions do?
Maybe you could split up the chapter in three seperate sections." Here
is an example of someone who knows nothing about the framework, but
already has made a valuable contribution to the documentation efforts
by providing their first impressions with explanations rather than
explitives.

To me there are three things we have to keep in mind.
1. If you are new to the communtiy you will have a lot more luck
getting answers if you tell others what is good, then go into what is
confusing, rather than coming out an telling someone that the effort
they put in for free is terrible.
2. Blanket over generalization from new members and old does not help
raise the level of understanding for anyone. i.e. saying "This
stinks." does not nothing but enrage, while saying "This stinks
because x, y, z" helps create the perspective for others to
understand.
3. We are all in this together. We are all trying to make our lives a
little easier. We are all trying to move things forward. Everyone can
contribute to these efforts, from first timers to advanced users.

Perspective is very important for everyone to keep in mind especially
as the community grows. Being patient and appreciating others for
helping is just as important as providing advice that is understanding
of the other perpsective.

I could go into a long winded explanation of what makes open source
thrive, but to save time I will tell you that "Give me this" or "This
is horrible" statements are not found anywhere in the explanation.

Thanks go out to all those who contribute explanations rather than
statments similar to those mentioned immediately above. Cake is
thriving and it has everything to do with this great community.


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