RE: Caution: Newbie online.

[Gregory Leblanc <GLeblanc@cu-portland.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Komarinski [mailto:markk@cgipc.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 1999 6:01 PM
> To: Gregory Leblanc
> Cc: ldp-discuss@lists.debian.org
> Subject: Re: Caution: Newbie online.
> 
> Gregory Leblanc wrote:
> > 
> > I'm thinking.  :)  Perhaps somebody who has a reasonable server can
> > mash the sgml-tools v2 into some CGI/BIN stuff, for a web page that
> > will report errors and such?  I don't know all that much about it.
> > The other option might be to set up a relatively fast server with a
> > VERY restricted shell, only allowing people to convert documents.
> > They could upload them via ftp, then sglm tools them, though this
> > would have a lot of administrative work.
> 
> Yes, but one better suited to someone rather fresh to the 
> LDP, yes? :) 

I'm afraid you lost me here...  Are you talking about the admin working
being done by somebody fresh to the LDP?

> > > 4) Of course, find out what docs are no longer being maintained
> > > and get new maintainers.
> > 
> > This is ongoing, happening all of the time, I'd thinkg.
> 
> Who is coordinating this?

I can't answer that one, but I'd think the collective "us", as in the people
on the LDP lists.

> > > There's always adding newbies to the QC group, let them get their
> > > feet wet reviewing docs and then let them loose with 
> their own docs.
> > > This would probably require some stricter guidelines and 
> QC docs so
> > > newbies would know what is and is not correct for LDP use.
> > 
> > Are you thinking about copy-editing here (spelling, grammar, etc) or
> > something else?  This sort of thing would just about 
> require a CVS or
> > RCS server, so that the QC people could store works and things, it
> > would be REALLY dificult to try to maintain things any other way.
> > Anyway, just chiming in, to see how much I can help the LDP, since I
> > use it almost every day (there's always something left that 
> I haven't
> > learned).
> 
> Well, we've been hashing around the idea for an FTP/CVS 
> server for a while now.
> Much of the resistance to it that I have seen (correct me if 
> I'm wrong) is lack
> of easy documentation.  A newbie with CVS knowledge would be nice.

CVS isn't that hard, as soon as I rebuild my machine at work, I'll install
it and write a CVS howto (unless there is one, in which case, I'll write a
CVS newbie HOWTO).

> 
> Spell and grammar checking is always nice, especially if 
> English isn't the
> author's language.

And there should be enough people here who have a good grasp of english
writing that they can correct mistakes easily.  This should DEFINATELY be a
part of what the LDP tries to do, because I hate reading docs that are
poorly translated, or poorly written.  I can't remember reading any
pertaining to Linux or the LDP, but I may have forgotten some.  

> 
> If we're going to make the LDP *THE* source of Linux 
> information, we have to
> become an organization that can handle a lot of documents, 
> loads of hits, and
> lots of authors (plus some patience ;).  I'm proposing we put 
> the effort in now
> and get things ready.  If we have volunteers who want to are 
> itching to do something,
> even if they're not good writers, we can always find 
> something for them to do.

Sounds like we need an LDP server, to handle things like this, and a
specific to-do list.  Here's a preliminary of what I see as "big" jobs, from
this list, and my own pea-brain:

1. Figure out what we should be using for a revision control system, and a
place for authors to keep LDP docs.  
2. Develop guidelines for Quality Control on the LDP docs.
3. Find a good way to keep track of maintainers of documents, and make sure
that the most frequently used documents are kept up to date.
4. Track some statistics on the LDP sites on downloads/viewing of documents.
(I.E.  Track the number of people who access each howto, and the people who
access the guides, etc.)

Please add to the with the things that I've forgotten, I'm sure there are
many.  I'll start playing with CVS tomorrow, to see how useable it is.  I'll
also try to ask on the SGML-tools list to see if they have any advice here.

> 
> I'm sure if I volunteered to help KDE or GNOME, I'd be given 
> a job real quick.

Well, I'm not sure about that.  I read the gnome-list, and there are LOTS of
things that need to be done, and plenty of testers, but I don't see a good
driving force behind the movement, as in somebody who JUST co-ordinates
volunteers, and gets them hooked up with jobs that they are well suited to
this.  Miguel is a fabulous programmer, and he helps keep things moving the
right direction, but thats not really what I'm talking about.  Sorry Miguel,
just an example.  
	Greg


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