Why are you lurking on the Documentation Project? (was Re: this is for you)

[Paul W. Frields]

On Sat, 2005-08-20 at 12:45 +0200, Peter Boy wrote:
> > On Mon, 2005-08-15 at 19:41 -0700, Karsten Wade wrote:
> > > Maybe you introduced yourself, or are still lurking.
> > > 
> > > Perhaps you have a document in progress, or an idea in process.
> > > 
> > > The Documentation Project needs you to help keep the momentum going.
> 
> I'm one of those guys who are lurking around and I have several
> (smaller) pieces of documentation text in my desks drawer.

Woo-hoo!  Fresh meat!

> > > * What is stopping you from submitting your document?
> 
> Well, I for myself are suffering from some lack of orientation. I'm not
> able to see in detail how several of my ideas and my texts may fit into
> the scene.

Then posting to the list is definitely the right thing to do.  When you
come to the table with raw material and the willingness to help shape it
into a new doc, you are providing the most valuable contribution to the
Docs Project!

> - I'm missing a list, something like a "Table Of Content", about the
>   topics, which should make up "Fedora Core Documentation" when it is
>   ready. If such a list were available I could check weather one of my
>   texts may fit

I know you've found the Editor Assignments page on the Wiki, which is a
list of everything we know about at this point, although quite a number
of documents on that page are stale due to inactivity.  In some cases
docs are promised but not delivered, and in others they are delivered
but the author doesn't work on them, and in still others editors have
not promptly reviewed, fixed, or discussed the work with the authors.
More participation is a good fix for that problem.

> - I'm missing a list, who is currently working on *what*. There is the
>   bugzilla entry (102668), but it seams to be out of date.
>   (On the web there is a list of who is contributing, but not what)
> 
> As an example:
> 
> I just wrote a text (about 8 pages) to assist some of my staff members
> to set up a samba server on FC 4. I consired to contribute it to the
> fedora doku project. I found in Bugzilla 102668 that Aaron M. Epps is
> working on that topic, but I couldn't find information about the details
> of his work nor about the progress. I found nothing about it in CVS yet.
> So I don't know how to proceed, and the text is going to vanish in the
> desk drawer. 

I haven't seen anything on that document either.  I hereby declare it
dead and ask that you take up the banner.  Feel free to start fresh,
because we have no raw material, AFAIK.

> > > * Do you need more directions?  
> > > * Do you want fewer restrictions?
> 
> Maybe both of it. Perhaps you should establish some sort of "early stage
> approval process". Something like:
[...snip...]

Something like this?  :-)

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/NewWriters

The upshot of the checklist:

 - Post your idea here for discussion (start a new thread)
 - Write and post initial draft for peer review (post link here) and ask
for an editor
 - Apply for CVS access
 - Work with the editor to finish the doc
 - One of the web-empowered editors will publish the doc

> > > The steering committee for this project is here to help you be
> > > successful working on Fedora documentation.
> 
> Well, just some ideas from my perspective. I would appreciate if I could
> contribute some of my texts in a way which is managable for me instead
> of letting them vanish in the desk drawer :-)

I think you're on the right track just by posting.  You're well on your
way graduating from "lurker" to "documentation demiurge"!  :-)  Please
keep the questions coming, since you are probably helping more people
than you think.

-- 
Paul W. Frields, RHCE                          http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
 Fedora Documentation Project: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/docs/
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