Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 14:00:19 -0800 From: Jim Mock <jim@FreeBSD.org> To: Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org> Cc: Chris Costello <chris@FreeBSD.org>, Murray Stokely <murray@freebsdmall.com>, doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: splitting FAQ ch. 9 Message-ID: <20020119220019.GA69416@helios.dub.net> In-Reply-To: <20020119081751.A44161@blackhelicopters.org> References: <20020117110921.B32325@blackhelicopters.org> <20020118030554.GC17795@freebsdmall.com> <20020118211213.J2208@holly.calldei.com> <20020119045555.GA57083@helios.dub.net> <20020119081751.A44161@blackhelicopters.org>
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On Sat, 19 Jan 2002 at 08:17:51 -0500, Michael Lucas wrote: > Hmmm... why would we want to start over with the FAQ? It's really not > that bad, for a document that covers 2.1.x, 2.2.x, 3.x, and 4.x. Much > of that information is still quite useful for people who are running > older releases. Well, that's one reason. We ripped all the 2.x stuff out of the handbook a while back, and should probably do the same with the FAQ. If somebody's been using FreeBSD long enough to still be using 2.x, I would assume they have enough clue to keep it running. > I would suggest that we start a new FAQ with the release of 5.x, and > call it "The FreeBSD 5.x FAQ." We could pull relevant info from the > old FAQ into that. It could even be started now. This is reasonable. > I'd also like to argue strongly in favor of very brief answers and > pointers in the FAQ, rather than just a pointer to a chapter in the > FAQ. Some of those chapters are very long, and as a reader/user I > don't want to dig through the whole chapter to find a quick answer. > 1-3 sentences per question in the FAQ aren't that bad. Or, at least, > link to the answer in the chapter rather than the chapter itself. Well, part of the problem with that is that people don't seem to read the FAQ either. It's just gotten too big, and if you don't know where something is, you've got to look through the whole thing anyway. For example, I was just looking for the entry about updating to the latest -STABLE and getting -RC so I could bookmark it to beat the newbies who are too lazy to read the FAQ with it when it's asked 400 times in #FreeBSD (on Undernet). It's in the system administration section of the FAQ. That was the 4th place I looked. It's not exactly easy to find things if you don't know where they are :-) > We need to remember that things that are asked frequently should be in > the FAQ. If people cannot find the documentation they want, they'll > keep asking. My goal, at least, is to shut them up. :) I agree, but see above. IMO, I think the FAQ should be kept short, and only answer the *most* frequently asked questions. Some stuff in the FAQ I haven't seen asked years, if at all. For starters, I think this question can definitely die a horrible, fiery death: 14.3. I just upgraded to 2.0.5 and my tty0X are missing! How do I solve this problem? I can't think of anyone that would've "just upgraded" to 2.0.5 :-) In order to make things easier to find, it would be extremely useful to limit the questions asked to only the most frequent ones (like the damn why'd I get -RC? question), and have the FAQ be one page only -- questions at the top, answers at the bottom. Otherwise, as I mentioned earlier, too much digging is needed if you don't know where things already are. - jim -- jim mock <mij@soupnazi.org> http://soupnazi.org/ | jim@FreeBSD.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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