Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 13:54:56 -0800 (PST) From: Joey Garcia <bear@pacificnet.net> To: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Newbies writing manuals Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.980322134919.511A-100000@pm3g-29.pacificnet.net> In-Reply-To: <19980323082759.29465@welearn.com.au>
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Okay, I get your point...but I don't consider that actually jumping down my throat. :) And I still consider myself to be a newbie, I've only been using Unix on a daily basis for about 6 months now and it's not really enough to say that I'm an experienced user. I have lot's to learn. Anyways, the thing is....I don't mind a newbie writing amanual page or how-to so as long as the information is correct. I'll be willing to write as much as I know about different topics. Or maybe give ideas to knew users on where to find applications or help. I do support the project, ya know. Know what I mean? bear =================================================== Joseph Garcia Downey, CA bear@pacificnet.net "Dont drink and drive, you might spill the beer." =================================================== On Mon, 23 Mar 1998, Sue Blake wrote: > On Sun, Mar 22, 1998 at 12:55:20PM -0800, Joey Garcia wrote: > > Okay, from what I understand is that there are a bunch of newbies wanting > > to write manuals. Right? I just want to make sure if it's newbies > > wanting to write manuals, or newbies wanting advanced users to write > > manuals *for* newbies. Would be ridiculous for a newbie (assuming that > > the newbie doesn't know anything) to actually sit down and write a manual > > or something. > > Apparently you're not a newbie. Please don't come into our space and then > tell us that what we want to do is ridiculous. Maybe you accidentally chose > the wrong word there :-) > > I know you mean well and the rest of your message is very helpful, but we > can't learn unless we are allowed to take some risks and make mistakes. It's > good to know what the risks are, sure, but like everyone we value our own > ideas. Some of us happen to think that writing our own manuals is a good > idea. Later on we can change our mind or we can go ahead and complete it or > change it into something else if we feel like it. That's up to us to find > out. > > For the official manuals I agree, a high quality of technical and writing > skill is essential. But their purpose is very different! > Their purpose is to dish out information; our purpose is to learn by doing. > This is the first chance most of us have had to help each other learn > without fear of making mistakes or being judged by them. > > OK, sorry to be heavy but if I don't jump down your throat now others will > follow and we'll be spending all our time trying to recover from lack of > courage instead of learning :-) > > > > Anyways, I support a project for writing simple manual pages and docs. > > Step by Step how-to's are also important. It's not also important for the > > advanced users to write simple stuff for newbies, but for corporations as > > well. > > One thing we do need as newbies is manuals that we can rely on as being > correct. Even if our systems survive the wrong advice, it's hard to unlearn > something and learn it again another way. So I agree, without advanced users > writing these things we wouldn't have the guidance we need. > > Anything that newbies write for newbies will be risky to use unless someone > like you volunteers to check it for acuracy *after* it's finished. Then we > might have to rewrite the whole thing before it can be used, and get to > learn a whole lot more. But maybe we don't care if it's used. Maybe > sometimes we do things just for the fun of doing them. And I know you like > to have fun as well! :-) > > If you have any more info I'm sure you have an appreciative audience. > Just watch the R word :-) > > -- > > Regards, > -*Sue*- > > find / -name "*.conf" |more > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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