It can be hard to find the Tuna with all the Herrings tossed around :-D On Aug 23, 2011, at 4:05 PM, Jean Weber wrote:
> I've started a new thread, because I think Rob Weir's very important point > has got lost in the discussions about forums and lists. Rob wrote: > >> Support is important. The question is >> how best to do it. If all we're doing is considering the merits of >> different access methods to support, without looking at the >> implications of fragmenting the repositories and the resulting >> knowledge base, then we are doing a poor job at thinking this through. >> Remember the best support site is the one that allows the user to >> answer their own question, without signing up for a mailing list or >> posting to a forum. We should be looking at how we can prevent user >> support questions. > > This ties in closely with end-user documentation and how it is delivered, so > I am very interested in this topic. Later today I'll go through the archives > of this list to find the earlier discussions, which I believe occurred while > I was traveling and thus weren't given enough of my attention at the time. > Or, have ideas and suggestions, perhaps examples of good practice, been > posted to the wiki? Apple is IMO a brilliant example, but they have a lot of > resources > > It's clear to me that we need to do better than we have in the user support > area, if we can do so. Not only will that benefit users and improve our > reputation, it will allow us to work smarter, not harder. I will pursue this, > along with other interested people. It's something valuable that I can do > while the techies are moving websites and working with code etc. > > Setting up a suitable system and populating it with suitable information will > be a big task and take quite awhile, especially if we don't have enough > skilled people to do it. (I'm referring to content, not infrastructure.) All > the more reason to get started now with planning what we want to do, so we > can start doing it ASAP. > > BTW, the Docs mailing list at OOo gets quite a few enquiries from people > wanting to contribute, and a few of them sound like they have relevant > experience and skills. I don't want to lose them. Yes, we point them to this > list as well as ODFAuthors, but I don't know how many have actually joined. > If we're actively discussing topics of interest to documenters, perhaps more > people can be persuaded to get involved. > > --Jean
