[documentation] Open editing/limiting creation?

[Addison Berry]

So before our meeting (http://groups.drupal.org/node/163430 I wanted  
to toss out my impressions and thoughts about the open editing trial  
we are running. First, I want to say that I think it is going pretty  
well. There was an initial "rush" after we announced and a number of  
folks were just testing things out. That seems to have died down and  
typically the edits I am seeing are good, helpful edits. I've not seen  
anything spammy or purposely "vandalized" myself. Definitely more  
edits overall and some of them need a little cleanup or guidance, but  
that is no more than we get from new team members honestly. So,  
overall I'd say that we should keep going with the open editing. We've  
gotten some good help and  fewer test/weirdness/spam with it (so far)  
than we do with new page creation. Which leads me to....

One thing that has kinda bugged me for a while, and has also been  
pointed out by other folks, is that while allowing anyone to create  
new pages definitely adds to the knowledge, we get lots of test pages  
and pages in the "wrong" place. Most people who test often make a  
silly page in the Getting Started guide, which is the worst place for  
cruft. Now, we are definitely moving forward on reorganizing the docs  
(check out the redesign thread, http://groups.drupal.org/node/15965).  
Once we figure out what we are doing and the best way to implement,  
I'm inclined to keep a bit of a tighter rein on things. Now, I have  
high hopes that the "speed bump" (http://drupal.org/node/307650) will  
eventually get worked out and that will help to a degree and I think  
completely cutting of page creation rights will end up losing some  
valuable docs. Pure moderation also seems a bit too much for us right  
now and people could end up with new content inaccessible for long  
periods.

So, for now, I'm thinking about having a "holding" book. Basically we  
could let people create new pages, but they would not get to choose  
the location and it would go into a new book for this purpose. (We   
would completely restrict the ability to choose a parent for folks  
that edit as well, if they aren't on the docs team, so that people  
don't create, then move.) I guess I'm thinking of a published  
moderation queue. Then doc team and site maintainers could check the  
book regularly, quickly deleting test and spam. We can assess good  
book pages and place them appropriately. While they are "holding" they  
will still be accessible to search and to authors who wish to improve  
the page. Now I haven't thought it all through but I just wanted to  
posit the idea and see what folks think - good, bad, different ideas.


- Addi (add1sun)
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