Documenters,<br><br>Sounds like some awesome work went on on Friday. I wish I could have stayed.<br><br>Regarding the overall structure proposed:<br><br><blockquote style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;" class="gmail_quote">
Get an Account<br>
Talk With The Community<br>
Use the Issue Queue<br>
<br>
Report a Problem<br>
Suggest Features<br>
<br>
Write Documentation<br>
Test New Features<br>
<br>
Contribute Themes<br>
Contribute Code</blockquote><br>I think there is a blending of "support" and "contribute" in this list which may be confusing to folks.<br><br>I think that "Ask for help" would be better than "Talk with the community". I think that part of what is behind the formulation "Talk with the community" is that we desire to communicate the depth, complexity, and richness of what Drupal is and what the community is. But I believe that thinking of these pages in usability terms would be helpful. Newcomers arrive on these landing pages looking for help, not seeking a conversation. <br>
<br>I think the most important thing when people arrive on the site having questions about Drupal is that they get quick, friendly, and helpful answers. In this way the newcomer will *experience* community. With that experience under his/her belt, it will be much more likely that we'll be able to get their attention focussed on a "Contribute" page.<br>
<br>I do think that we can sprinkle hints within the support pages that will point to a path that invites and expects contribution. For example, in the paragraph on <a href="http://drupal.org/support">http://drupal.org/support</a> that introduces the
forums, a line could be added, "You don't need to be an expert to start
helping out in the forums." In this way we set the tone that this is a
participatory community.<br>
<br>I know there is a documentation team, but is there a support team? I don't think so. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The support listserve is not for folks strategizing/monitoring the current level of support within Drupal and how to make it better. Rather it's a listserve for people seeking support and those willing to help out. I think if we really want to do better at welcoming and reaching out to newcomers, we actually need a support team that will strategize and monitor support. There are all kinds of ways that we can get metrics on support that I'm sure the d.o. infrastructure folks could help us out with (e.g. average lag time between a question and first response; number of unanswered questions per/month etc.) These metrics would help a support team to strategize solutions.<br>
<br>I think I may be talking to a different issue to what the sprinters were
addressing on Friday. I certainly wholeheartedly support efforts to better organize d.o. in
ways that will help folks seeking help and those desiring to contribute.<br><br>Best,<br><br>Shai<br><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 3/8/08, <b class="gmail_sendername">Michael F</b> <<a href="mailto:birdmanx35@gmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">birdmanx35@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I just want to give a huge +infinity to this.<div><br></div><div>I love the idea of d.o. book, and this section sounds beautiful. I can't wait to see it, or help out.<br><br clear="all">
<br>-- <br>Sincerely,<br><span>Michael
</span></div>
<br>--<br>
Pending work: <a href="http://drupal.org/project/issues/documentation/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://drupal.org/project/issues/documentation/</a><br>
List archives: <a href="http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/documentation/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/documentation/</a><br></blockquote></div>
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