Ideally a team of three. One is too few (what if they get busy? then it stalls), and two can disagree (another stall) while a third can be a tiebreaker if needed. Or a sane person, depending. :P
I'm just tossing out ideas here. a. On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 4:28 PM, Doug Sparling <[email protected]>wrote: > I like the idea as well. > > > On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 2:22 PM, Lorelle on WordPress < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> This is so exciting. The Docs team has been walking on egg shells for >> years over the confusion of the WordPress Handbook, and I'm eager to see >> new energy being sent in this direction. >> >> The close ties between the Forum and Codex have been there since the >> beginning. However, time and skills serving the Forum and the time and >> skills serving documentation are distinctive, as several people mentioned. >> I agree that there needs to be one or two people overseeing the >> organizational structure, management, and maintenance of the Codex. >> >> Having a site of our own has been essential and lacking, which is why we >> created the unofficial docs task list not long ago. It was critical that we >> find a better way of communicating and keeping our community connected than >> the mailing list. As it was "unofficial," we haven't done much to promote >> it or work with it, but it was a start. We need to have a place to support >> and educate each other on how to write for the Codex and offer task lists >> beyond those we've had in the past on the Codex, so I'm excited about >> having our own space or making the current blog on WordPress.com official. >> >> The mailing list has not been the sole line of communication either. As >> many do, I work with many people one on one to help them write and edit for >> the Codex and assign tasks, communicating with the mailing list when >> necessary for edits and such. >> >> As we struggled to understand the role the WordPress Handbook and >> WordPress Lessons played in the role of documentation in the WordPress >> Community, we've come to realize the Codex best serves the WordPress >> Community by providing support for issues found within the Forums, >> expanding upon Learn WordPress instructions for the WordPress Lessons >> section, and developing more extensive documentation and guides beyond the >> basics found within the help files, especially servicing developers and >> programmers. >> >> While melding together Forum and Codex sounds great on the surface, I >> agree with Andrea and others that we need to have one or more people >> focused on the bigger picture overseeing the Codex, thus supporting the >> overall WordPress Community better. >> >> Thanks for the survey, Jane, and for helping with all of this. >> >> Lorelle >> >> >> >> >> >> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 8:28 AM, Andrea Rennick >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> It makes totally sense, because Support & Docs are two sides of the same >>> coin. :) If users can't understanding docs or can't find them, they post in >>> the forums. ;P >>> >>> Better docs mean less support issues, because people don't scale. And >>> the people answering questions are the first ones who see the need for new >>> docs. Because they answer the same questions over and over (and over) again. >>> >>> Getting people to read docs is a separate issue, but having support and >>> docs work hand in hand in tandem is a big first step. >>> >>> I think half the people overlap anyway, yes? >>> >>> a. >>> >>> >>> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 11:51 AM, Chip Bennett <[email protected]>wrote: >>> >>>> Personally, I love the idea. Speaking as a contributor group member who >>>> tries to keep in the loop regarding support and/or Codex issues that impact >>>> our group (or issues where our contributor group can be helpful), such >>>> consolidation is welcome. >>>> >>>> Chip >>>> >>>> >>>> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 7:09 AM, Jane Wells <[email protected]>wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi everyone. The results of the recent surveys to identify active >>>>> contributors and elect team reps made it pretty clear that the docs team >>>>> is >>>>> in a bit of a slump, organizationally speaking. Only 5 people from the >>>>> wp-docs post responded, and of those, 2 were new or not yet contributing, >>>>> and there was no consensus re reps among the remaining 3 respondents. It >>>>> got me thinking about how we organize contributors, what has worked well >>>>> elsewhere in the WP ecosystem and in other free software projects, and >>>>> leads me to this proposal: what if we combined forums and docs into one >>>>> Support team? >>>>> >>>>> Looking back at the Codex activity from the past six months or year, >>>>> chunks of it have been tied to forum mods (like Ipstenu and Andrea_r), >>>>> other contributor groups (like Chip on the Theme Review Team), and new >>>>> releases. Not that how Automattic/WordPress.com organizes itself should >>>>> decide anything, but their support team manages forums, email support, and >>>>> docs, and it seems to work pretty well. They have a schedule for reviewing >>>>> existing documentation so it never gets too far out of date, and the >>>>> people >>>>> on the front lines with users in the forums and via email can see very >>>>> clearly where they need to beef up documentation. I'm thinking this could >>>>> work well for .org, too. Those who are strong writers and just want to >>>>> contribute to documentation could still do so, but within a context of >>>>> what >>>>> our user support needs are at any given time based on the actual support >>>>> requests. >>>>> >>>>> What I'm envisioning is less siloing of contributor personnel, with >>>>> one group blog at make.wordpress.org/support that uses tags like >>>>> forums and codex to organize posts, and has pages to help orient new >>>>> contributors and get them started. These mailing lists could fade away in >>>>> favor of email subscriptions from the blog, which are more easily >>>>> searchable and would be more visible to potential contributors. Within the >>>>> uber-group, some people would naturally gravitate toward specific tasks >>>>> while others would multi-task as they have been doing. >>>>> >>>>> Over time we could expand the purview of the group to include things >>>>> like moderating instructional videos and comments at wordpress.tv(and >>>>> start embedding appropriate videos into codex), possibly helping to >>>>> staff in-person help desks in local communities and/or at events like >>>>> WordCamps and Meetups, etc. I think the prospects are pretty exciting, and >>>>> I could see this becoming the biggest and most active of all the >>>>> contributor groups, which would be awesome. >>>>> >>>>> If there are any strong objections to this approach, please reply to >>>>> this thread today so we can discuss. If not, and everyone is willing to >>>>> give this a shot and all work together (at least as an experiment for, >>>>> say, >>>>> the next release cycle or two), I'll go ahead and set up the group blog >>>>> tomorrow. >>>>> >>>>> Jane >>>>> ______________________________**_________________ >>>>> wp-docs mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> http://lists.automattic.com/**mailman/listinfo/wp-docs<http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> wp-docs mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> -- >>> Andrea Rennick, http://wpebooks.com and http://ronandandrea.com >>> Co-author of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies http://rml.me/aio >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> wp-docs mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> wp-docs mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > wp-docs mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs > > -- -- Andrea Rennick, http://wpebooks.com and http://ronandandrea.com Co-author of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies http://rml.me/aio
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