Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 08:27:59 +1100 From: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> To: Joey Garcia <bear@pacificnet.net> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Newbies writing manuals Message-ID: <19980323082759.29465@welearn.com.au> In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.96.980322124821.200B-100000@pm3g-24.pacificnet.net>; from Joey Garcia on Sun, Mar 22, 1998 at 12:55:20PM -0800 References: <Pine.LNX.3.96.980322124821.200B-100000@pm3g-24.pacificnet.net>
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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
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