On 5/22/13, Brad O'Hearne <[email protected]> wrote: > On May 22, 2013, at 9:02 AM, Robert Krueger <[email protected]> wrote: > >> After all, most of the work is >> done by people in their spare time and I haven't found many developers >> who enjoy writing documentation (no matter how important docs are, I >> think we all agree on that). > > The problem, Robert, is bigger than just finding someone to document FFmpeg, > getting volunteers, or motivating people. The bigger problem is that > producing good documentation and discussion of a particular technical domain > requires an inquisitive and exhaustive approach, willing to drill down to > details, and ask questions which put design decisions and potentially either > weaknesses or needs in the spotlight. The tone of this mailing list just > doesn't have a thick-enough skin for that. The discourse on this list > consistently demonstrates an inability to treat machinery as machinery, nuts > and bolts, and instead quickly degenerates into personal attacks when a good > answer isn't quickly obvious, or when someone refuses to consider that there > may be a problem in some part of FFmpeg which someone has adopted as their > turf. > > There is absolutely zero question in my mind, from the several projects I've > had to solve with FFmpeg, discussions with others, numerous blog posts which > lament the undocumented and unknown nature of various parts of FFmpeg, that > save bug-fixing, adding a single additional line of code to FFmpeg pales in > importance to thoroughly documenting the API with adequate discussion, > documenting use, and producing some examples that address real-world > use-cases, not "let's just generate some audio samples or a sample images > for video", which avoids the real problems of building a robust app. > > I love writing, have written technical documentation and technical articles, > and had several book deals offered. Given my frustrations and time loss due > to a lack of documentation, if it were mine to script, I'd document the > whole thing myself, and produce either a book or user guide on this. But > given both my personal experiences thus far and observing others as well on > this mailing list, I won't go anywhere near it. Too much shoot-the-messenger > on this mailing list. Too much condescension if you ask a question without > demonstrating deep expertise of a particular concept. Too much passion for > sniping people because they don't just by default know something. That, > Robert, is the primary problem -- with people making personal attacks, and > an inability to drill into minutia with patience, people who would otherwise > offer their services are driven away. > > I'm not just referring to my own experiences here, I've been on this mailing > list a year and a half, and I've watched it with others, too. It's a shame. > Entirely unnecessary.
How much time it takes to write above text? Now compare to time I wasted reading this FUD instead of doing something else - like helping users than really need help. _______________________________________________ Libav-user mailing list [email protected] http://ffmpeg.org/mailman/listinfo/libav-user
