editors

[Karsten Wade]

Here are some further ideas about the role of an editor:

* Helps writing adhere throughout the creation process to the
(unwritten) Style Guide(lines).

* The relationship between authors and editors will take many forms. 
Some people will create a pairing, two or more people who work together
regularly on a set of docs.

* Two people can edit each other's document.  This is often a good way
to get a technical edit.

* Before going live, a document needs two editorial sign-offs -- writing
style (grammar, spelling, etc.) and technical content.

* Should there be an editorial board?  Such a board would oversee the
Fedora docs, make sure we are adhering to our standards, filling in
holes, following or advancing our process, etc.

* Separate mailing list for editors?  Or just accept that
fedora-docs-list gets busier with traffic between editors and authors.

The more I think about it, the more I think we should keep all traffic
on the one mailing list until there is a solid reason split.  For
example, the editorial board needs to do its deliberations and decisions
in the open, and it's unfair to make people go to a separate mailing
list just to see that.  We'll get better community input if we do
editorial stuff on the main list.

* Also, much of the editing traffic can be in bugzilla, as each document
will have it's own bug throughout it's lifecycle.

* The board can be in charge of deciding between competing or
conflicting documents.  Still, we can agree that more choice is better,
so having documents that cover multiple methods of solving the same
problems just means we get to bundle them together as a set. :)

* The board needs to have an odd number of people so that if consensus
can't be reached, a majority vote without a tie is possible. 

* The board members don't necessarily have to edit anything actively.

* Editorial board could just form like Voltron right now from available
interested parties (myself included there, please), and proceed with
some process defining.

- Karsten
-- 
Karsten Wade, RHCE, Tech Writer
a lemon is just a melon in disguise
http://people.redhat.com/kwade/
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