[documentation] Hitchhikers guide to Drupal

[andre]

Robert Castelo wrote:
> Happy New Year,
> in response to a few hissy fits from users over the last few months, 
> I've posted a page to the handbook explaining to users 
> (non-contributors) that they are not the centre of most developer's 
> universe....
> 
> Hitchhikers guide to Drupal
> http://drupal.org/node/42941

I'm going to have to give the concept a marginal +1 - BUT the tone, 
wording and everything else a BIG -1.
Strictly from a PR perspective its not good at all.  It comes off as 
sounding like: "Users are whiny brats - and Drupal has no time for you."

However true all or part of that statement is - and however much core 
contributors might agree with the statements - its not something Drupal 
should advertise... especially not in the first few pages of the "about 
Drupal" handbook.

"Welome to Drupal - now Fuck off and leave us alone" ;-)

I'm okay with the wording upto and including:

"Some people setting up a site with Drupal get frustrated that out of 
the box it doesn't include the features they want, and really resent 
that it requires some knowledge on their part to add in those features, 
either coding new modules or installing existing modules.

Their expectations are based on their experience of commercial software 
products. They see themselves as the 'customer' - with all the rights 
and expectations that a customer would have, including developers 
prioritising their time to focus on their needs."

But at this stage the text should direct users to the many great 
consultants - who, for a modest fee ;-), will gladdy take them on as 
REAL customers.

andre

> A handbook page like this needs to be very carefully worded so as not to 
> alienate users, if there's interest in the ideas it can be rewritten to 
> be more diplomatic before we publish it.

Absolutely 100% agree.
andre

		
___________________________________________________________ 
To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com