Re: wiki documentation

On 6/2/07, Joe Pham <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >o) Any intent to keep the local help?
>
> Not if it's redundant.

(see below)

> >o) What about openness versus security? Is there an agreed upon
> >strategy?
>
> I don't think we have a strategy per se.  It's supposed to be a
> community thing, so I'd leave it to the community to decide.

(see below)

> >o) first, migrate the "supported phones" to the wiki, and see how it
> >goes
>
> Not sure what you meant by this.  Are your referring to the Phone
> Help pages?

Yes, what I meant to say was the hierarchy below "phones" folder
in current documentation.

> >o) after the wiki goes live for the supported phones, remove this
> >section from the user manual, to reduce doc maintenance as well as
> >to encourage users to read/update the wiki. Change the local
> >documentation to link to the wiki.
>
> I'd still prefer to maintain the (offline) User Doc, so we need to
> figure out an efficient way of transferring data back and forth.

hmmm ... this seems to be at odds with what you said above,
"Not if it is redundant". In any event, seems that everyone would
agree:
a) there is strong benefit to having doc available locally
b) there is some effort required to migrate from wiki to local doc

If (b) can be kept small, its probably worth the trouble.

> >o) vandalism: require login for updates; no second chances for
> >vandals.
>
> Curious as to how the other wiki sites handle this?

Wikipedia has a variety of responses to vandalism, depending
on circumstances.

o) strongly favor openness to get people started and comfortable;
no login required for most edits

o) monitor recent changes, reverting (and scolding) when changes
are inappropriate

o) repeat offenders are banned

o) some common targets to vandalism are locked from
anonymous editing; in more extreme cases, some articles
are locked from all edits

I don't know how other wiki's besides wikipedia handle it;
probably a variety of strategies and a variety of success.

======================

An approach to launch the wiki that I think would be
workable is as follows:

a) Use an incremental approach ... if for any reason the
wiki is not workable, it's better to find out with less work
than with more. Plus, gets going earlier rather than later.
I suggest using the "phones" help section as guinea pig.

The switchover to wiki could be phased: First release could
have stale "phones" help; later release could drop it
completely (or, if worth the trouble, convert wiki
to local help)

b) For security of information, require login to wiki, but
grant access pretty much automatically. I think this will
deter the casual vandals; deterring a determined vandal
is harder, but hopefully won't be much of an issue.

Note that getting started would require almost no change
to current BitPim: Just a link somewhere near front
that says:

> For perhaps more current information on your phone,
> have a look at our wiki: www.bitpim.org/wiki

Even if the the first launch was incomplete on the
"phones" hierarchy, it could turn out to be quite useful
and would be a start, regardless.

Other approaches would work too ...

I'm not particularly concerned about the details, but I
would like to see a wiki used for the documentation,
and I'm willing to help get it going.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express
Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take
control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now.
http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/