Date: Fri, 03 May 2002 17:11:39 -0700 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: "R. David Murray" <bitz@bitdance.com> Cc: JJ Behrens <jj@nttmcl.com>, Dave Hayes <dave@jetcafe.org>, Brooks Davis <brooks@one-eyed-alien.net>, Michael Sierchio <kudzu@tenebras.com>, Drew Tomlinson <drew@mykitchentable.net>, bmah@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: organic documentation Message-ID: <3CD3273B.1D8F54F4@mindspring.com> References: <20020503142917.H32803-100000@twirl.bitdance.com>
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"R. David Murray" wrote: > Sorry for dropping in to the middle of a conversation, but this > comment puzzles me. I fail to see how: > > handbook + per-page comments from readers > > is *inferior* to: > > handbook with no comments > > given that the handbook maintainers do not have infinate time > to polish the handbook, nor infinate knowledge about the > quirks discoverd by the community. 1) Qualification of sources of information. Not every commenting reader is adding something other than "First Post! Nyah!". 2) Classification varies by individual; to present a coherent whole, not everyone can be an editor. This is why published collections of works have editors: to apply a uniform standard. 3) Disinformatoin is not discernable from information. Consider a dictionary created via a wiki: o Some people could order their entries by length, while others could order them alphabetically; o Is the Schlossen before or after the character "S", lexically? o Who checks the facts? o Copyright assignmnet (I guess you could "shrink wrap" this). > Good comments could be properly classified and incorporated into > the text as the maintainers have time. So you need an editor. I guess you are suggesting that they would be incorporated into the handbook itself? > On the other hand, I *can* see that it might be a non-trivial > project to integrate the documentation system with a web > comment system such that the two do not interfere with each other. A web comment system will interfere. It can't help it. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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