Envolution a word of advice
David Pottier <[email protected]> Mon, 02 Sep 2002 13:58:05 -0700
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.web.encompass.devel |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <5.1.0.14.2.20020902122721.02c99b70@shawmail> |
--Boundary_(ID_Q+ugY3fvIch98iEnDshbCA)
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First, I want to thank you all for this effort
and your accumulated skills and dedication
that have made it possible.
The time has come the walrus said.....
To think of the plight of the End-User and....
For me to throw in my two cents worth and for you
to step back and take the time to create a searchable
knowledge base for end user support
I realize that in the beginning this will take a concerted effort on the
part of someone, or a group thereof, on the dev team however....
In the long run will it not reduce the work load for all concerned?
You bet it will !!
ie - take an error report I got from a virgin install of 1.0
Fatal error: Smarty plugin error: [in inblock.tpl line 7]: unknown tag -
'BLOCK' in l:\htdocs\testsite\modules\Encompass\pnclasses\Smarty.class.php
on line 2026
Fatal Error Module Block Release # etc
To this error there will be 1) a FIX 2) a reply
Put them in the knowledge base
- not an FAQ (usually the not tech newbie fluff stuff gets
dumper here)
- not in a Forum - too hard to find any sort of answer there and it relies
- 1) some with skill to help reading it
- 2) that person taking the time to reply (see time figure below)
My experience:
1 - In the mid-1980's I was Vice-President and the 'Software Expert'
for North America's largest PC User's Group. I was one fo a group
who taught online communications to club members for years
We turned our city into the most connected city in the world. The city
with the highest number of internet users per capita in the world.
Believe me I have handled more than my share of 03:00 calls 'cause
someone's system crashed.
I first got involved with Hypertext when it was called "Black Magic"
(from a Seattle programmer). I wanted club members to be able
to find their own answers instead of my phone # at 03:00 :))
2 - As Public Education and Training Co-Ordinator for a large
public access system (a FreeNet) with over 17,000 users I get
my share of user created headaches
3 - Former customer/tech support type for a cable modem system
with 30,000+ subscribers I started there at day one, customer one
4 - my current email load - in access of 381,600 pieces of email per year
Take my advice - step back, take the time - build the knowledge based system
Your end users will love you for it. Your friends and partners will love
you for it.
You'll find that you actually have time to do what you want and love doing -
developing
Or you may all just burn out answering user questions rather than developing
the ultimate CMS.
Consider - IF only .01 percent of the web used Envolution
(based on modest 245 million sites) you have 245,000 users with
questions to answer
IF each user asked only one question a year, just one - you will have 671
replies
to generate each and every day or 28 messages per hour, each and every hour,
with only two minutes to read and reply to each one. Boiler platting the
answers
will help a lot. Remember all you get for free time, is 4 minutes per
hour, or 96 minutes
per day to eat, sleep, etc and for all other aspects of life
Zar_Dos
--Boundary_(ID_Q+ugY3fvIch98iEnDshbCA)
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<html>
First, I want to thank you all for this effort <br>
and your accumulated skills and dedication <br>
that have made it possible. <br><br>
The time has come the walrus said.....<br><br>
To think of the plight of the End-User and....<br><br>
For me to throw in my two cents worth and for you <br>
to step back and take the time to create a searchable <br>
knowledge base for end user support<br><br>
I realize that in the beginning this will take a concerted effort on the
<br>
part of someone, or a group thereof, on the dev team
however....<br><br>
In the long run will it not reduce the work load for all
concerned?<br><br>
You bet it will !!<br><br>
ie - take an error report I got from a virgin install of 1.0<br><br>
<font color="#FF0000">Fatal error: Smarty plugin error: [in inblock.tpl
line 7]: unknown tag - <br>
'BLOCK' in
l:\htdocs\testsite\modules\Encompass\pnclasses\Smarty.class.php on line
2026<br><br>
</font><font color="#0000FF">Fatal Error
Module Block Release
# etc<br><br>
</font>To this error there will be <b>1</b>) a FIX <b>2</b>) a
reply<br><br>
Put them in the knowledge base <br><br>
- not an FAQ (usually the not tech newbie fluff stuff gets <br>
dumper here)<br><br>
- not in a Forum - too hard to find any sort of answer there and it
relies <br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>- 1) some
with skill to help reading it<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>- 2) that
person taking the time to reply (<i>see time figure below</i>)<br><br>
My experience:<br><br>
1 - In the mid-1980's I was Vice-President and the 'Software Expert'
<br>
for North America's largest PC User's Group. I was one fo a group <br>
who taught online communications to club members for years<br><br>
We turned our city into the most connected city in the world. The city
<br>
with the highest number of internet users per capita in the world.
<br><br>
Believe me I have handled more than my share of 03:00 calls 'cause
<br>
someone's system crashed. <br><br>
I first got involved with Hypertext when it was called "Black
Magic" <br>
(from a Seattle programmer). I wanted club members to be able
<br>
to find their own answers instead of my phone # at 03:00
:))<br><br>
2 - As Public Education and Training Co-Ordinator for a large <br>
public access system (a FreeNet) with over 17,000 users I get
<br>
my share of user created headaches <br><br>
3 - Former customer/tech support type for a cable modem system <br>
with 30,000+ subscribers I started there at day one, customer
one<br><br>
4 - my current email load - in access of 381,600 pieces of email per
year<br><br>
Take my advice - step back, take the time - build the knowledge based
system<br><br>
Your end users will love you for it. Your friends and partners will
love you for it. <br>
You'll find that you actually have time to do what you want and love
doing - <br>
developing<br><br>
Or you may all just burn out answering user questions rather than
developing <br>
the ultimate CMS. <br><br>
Consider - IF only .01 percent of the web used Envolution <br>
(based on modest 245 million sites) you have 245,000 users with <br>
questions to answer<br><br>
<b>IF</b> each user asked only one question a year, <i>just one</i> - you
will have <b>671</b> replies <br>
to generate each and every day or <b>28</b> messages per hour, each and
every hour, <br>
with only two minutes to read and reply to each one. Boiler platting the
answers <br>
will help a lot. Remember all you get for free time, is 4 minutes
per hour, or 96 minutes <br>
per day to eat, sleep, etc and for all other aspects of life<br><br>
Zar_Dos<br><br>
</html>
--Boundary_(ID_Q+ugY3fvIch98iEnDshbCA)--