Re: educating users

On Mon, 2005-09-19 at 02:07 -0400, Bryan Quigley wrote:
> I am a noob with gentoo and linux.  Are you trying to make it harder
> for me to install gentoo, and make it take more time?

I think what Andrew is trying to do is curb the people out there that
think that using a graphical installer makes Gentoo any easier to
install, when it does not.

> gentoo was my first real attempt at linux, and I installed it as I
> read the handbook.  I didnt read and master the handbook before
> starting the install.

You don't have to read and master it, you just have to follow it.  The
problem here is stemming from people that are refusing to read the
Handbook, then wondering why they can't get Gentoo installed and are
starting to flood our support channels with questions answered in the
Handbook.

> If you believe that someone having trouble with gentoo would ask it on
> a list instead of reading the handbook.   Then might they just ask the
> questions from the test?

Exactly.  This is the reason why I think any kind of quiz would be
pretty pointless.  Perhaps a starting page that tells the user that the
documentation is located in the Handbook and that they should read the
Handbook before asking questions would be good, but anything as
pervasive as a quiz is pretty much wasted time on both the developer's
part and the user's.

Do we need a copy of the Handbook on the CD for use by the installer?
That shouldn't be a problem and is of minimal size.  One other thing
that we will need is information on the installer added to the Handbook,
as right now, a lot of assumptions are made that the users will be able
to translate the command-line options from the Handbook into clicks (or
selections) in the installer front-ends.

Yes, it is going to take a lot of work.  Yes, it is going to suck.  Yes,
I recommend trying to find and bribe one of the docs team members into
being an installer docs monkey for a short while.  ;]

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering - Strategic Lead
Games - Developer
Gentoo Linux

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