Michelle Olson wrote: > > Right. We now have a model that says to contact a sponsor for any >contribution. As a brand new person to the community, I found this >limiting and I was surprised by it myself. And, it seems that we need >to build some credibility as sponsors and I will work on that by just >being here. In fact, I just found out that we have two excellent >writers who have volunteered to sponsor doc contributions as they come >in, so I will work closely with them to improve coordination. > Thats where those guidelines are going to be helpful. As an author who's interested I'm unsure as to what I can do. Can I add sections to existing docs? Can I remove or rewrite major sections? Can I prepose re-organization? Which docs can I contribute to? What are the steps involved (ie: proposal, submission, review, etc)?
Working these things out better informs possible contributors but also heads off any possible conflict ahead of time. No one likes proposing something that gets immediately shut down as "out of scope". I look forward to those guidelines, or a draft thereof. >Agreed. I think we have to focus on the big goal of creating usable >quality resource for all. Then, prioritize the types of documents. You >say man pages are of most interest. What do others say? I'd like to >enable contributions to other types of docs that have fewer >complexities WRT attribution models, copyrights and structured tagging >because it is already happening here in form of >articles/blogs/infodocs, but without much coordination. I want to >attempt to coordinate the types that are more flat first, because I >think we are a bit 'stuck' on the man pages. But, maybe we need all >hands on deck for the man pages and shouldn't move on until we have a >working process for it?? > > The man pages aren't of much interest to me, really, at least they are low on my personal list. But, I consider the man pages as something to fast-track because of the work being done on the code side. Some code contributors have been frustrated by the inability to get changes or corrections made to man pages, etc. Right now, today, they are the most important because they are already up and running and producing, and any barriers that can be removed from their paths, should be. Coders come first. Personally, I'm more interested in help, manuals, etc. But thats part of an effort (which which mail is a part of) that is going to take a little more time and planning. >I don't have the answers, but as a collective, we'll find solutions to >these questions and they'll bring about more, tougher questions. >Thanks again for this input, it is extremely valuable to me and to the >effort as a whole. Keep 'em coming. > > Definately. :) benr.
