Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2002 15:34:29 -0500 From: Tom Rhodes <darklogik@pittgoth.com> To: Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org> Cc: doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: patch for opinions Message-ID: <3C892055.2090106@pittgoth.com> References: <20020308145629.A68153@blackhelicopters.org>
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Michael Lucas wrote: > > Folks, > > I was reading the "contributing" article, and my literary > sensibilities were completely offended. This section is guilty of > overuse of exclamation ponits and the word "also", as well as > miscellaneous inefficiencies in writing. Attached please find a patch > for the first section of articles/contributing. (Not closely checked > for whitespace gratuitousness, mind you.) > > I see a potential here to open a big can o'worms, worms called "wasted > effort," "conflict of writing styles," and "hurt feelings because > Michael's picking on someone's writing skills when we should be happy > to just have docs at all, damn it!". > > I'm perfectly happy to hear that this is a non-issue, mind you, but I > can see this sort of thing either hurting feelings or setting a > precedent the Project doesn't want set. Thoughts? > > ==ml > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Index: article.sgml > =================================================================== > RCS file: /home/ncvs/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/contributing/article.sgml,v > retrieving revision 1.474 > diff -c -r1.474 article.sgml > *** article.sgml 18 Feb 2002 03:06:39 -0000 1.474 > --- article.sgml 8 Mar 2002 19:46:28 -0000 > *************** > *** 32,66 **** > </articleinfo> > > <indexterm><primary>contributing</primary></indexterm> > ! <para>So you want to contribute something to FreeBSD? That is great! We can > ! always use the help, and FreeBSD is one of those systems that > ! <emphasis>relies</emphasis> on the contributions of its user base in order > to survive. Your contributions are not only appreciated, they are vital > ! to FreeBSD's continued growth!</para> > > ! <para>Contrary to what some people might also have you believe, you do not > need to be a hot-shot programmer or a close personal friend of the FreeBSD > ! core team in order to have your contributions accepted. The FreeBSD > ! Project's development is done by a large and growing number of > ! international contributors whose ages and areas of technical expertise > ! vary greatly, and there is always more work to be done than there are > ! people available to do it.</para> > > <para>Since the FreeBSD project is responsible for an entire operating > ! system environment (and its installation) rather than just a kernel or a > few scattered utilities, our <filename>TODO</filename> list also spans a > very wide range of tasks, from documentation, beta testing and > ! presentation to highly specialized types of kernel development. No matter > what your skill level, there is almost certainly something you can do to > ! help the project!</para> > > <para>Commercial entities engaged in FreeBSD-related enterprises are also > ! encouraged to contact us. Need a special extension to make your product > work? You will find us receptive to your requests, given that they are not > ! too outlandish. Working on a value-added product? Please let us know! We > may be able to work cooperatively on some aspect of it. The free software > world is challenging a lot of existing assumptions about how software is > ! developed, sold, and maintained throughout its life cycle, and we urge you > to at least give it a second look.</para> > > <sect1 id="contrib-what"> > --- 32,66 ---- > </articleinfo> > > <indexterm><primary>contributing</primary></indexterm> > ! <para>So you want to contribute to FreeBSD? That is great! > ! FreeBSD > ! <emphasis>relies</emphasis> on the contributions of its user base > to survive. Your contributions are not only appreciated, they are vital > ! to FreeBSD's continued growth.</para> s/they/but/ ? "appreciated, but are" "appreciated, but are" I think the later sounds better. If anything else "but are also vital" doesn't sound bad either. Your patch though ;) > > ! <para>Contrary to what some people might have you believe, you do not > need to be a hot-shot programmer or a close personal friend of the FreeBSD > ! core team to have your contributions accepted. > ! A large and growing number of > ! international contributors, of greatly varying ages and areas of technical expertise, develop FreeBSD. > ! There is always more work to be done than there are > ! people available to do it, and more help is always appreciated.</para> might have you believe, you do not / people may say, you do not I just did not like the use of two "you"'s in there... anyone else? > > <para>Since the FreeBSD project is responsible for an entire operating > ! system environment rather than just a kernel or a > few scattered utilities, our <filename>TODO</filename> list also spans a > very wide range of tasks, from documentation, beta testing and > ! presentation to the system installer and highly specialized types of kernel development. No matter > what your skill level, there is almost certainly something you can do to > ! help the project.</para> > > <para>Commercial entities engaged in FreeBSD-related enterprises are also > ! encouraged to contact us. Do you need a special extension to make your product > work? You will find us receptive to your requests, given that they are not > ! too outlandish. Are you working on a value-added product? Please let us know! We > may be able to work cooperatively on some aspect of it. The free software > world is challenging a lot of existing assumptions about how software is > ! developed, sold, and maintained, and we urge you > to at least give it a second look.</para> > > <sect1 id="contrib-what"> > small picks, I know... but they are not "must do" things, and i'll agree either way ;) -- Tom (Darklogik) Rhodes www.Pittgoth.com Gothic Liberation Front www.FreeBSD.org The Power To Serve To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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