[documentation] Hitchhikers guide to Drupal

[Kim P. Werker]

Hi everyone,

I'm Kim, new to the list, and relatively new to Drupal.

I agree that this post is a marketing no-no, and also that it would  
be far more effective if it were worded more positively. One question  
I want to ask, as a newbie, is what's the overall goal? Is the goal  
to create a community for coding and developing and building  
software? Is the goal to build software that's used as widely as  
possible? Is there a target end-user?

It seems to me that presenting Drupal as a developer's playground  
where mere-end-users-not-contributors aren't welcome is okay if the  
goal of the development is to make more development. But if the goal  
is to make the software popular, then some compromises would be  
beneficial. There's definitely something to be said for the end-user  
who "only" gives back by telling everyone she knows that Drupal is  
the best CMS around.

I like Laura's wording below (except that, to my understanding,  
"kibitzing" means chit-chatting -- maybe you meant "kvetching," which  
means complaining?) Of course, I also think that whining can be  
valuable, too -- staying in touch with the user base leads to  
development with their needs and wants in mind, which leads to a more  
popular product if done right. Sure, whine-fests are annoying and  
counterproductive. But making note of the initial whine can be useful.

I'm sure that in many respects I *am* the person this page is about.  
Though I'm not basing my experience of Drupal on commercial software.  
I'm basing it on software like WordPress, the oft-maligned phpBB,  
etc. I had a hell of a time first starting to use Drupal, and that's  
why I'm on this list.

Cheers,
Kim

On 5-Jan-06, at 8:01 AM, Laura Scott wrote:

> -1 for the tone. Rather than say what Drupal is not, better to  
> emphasize what Drupal is. Something like:
>
> Drupal represents the result of a collaborative effort between  
> volunteers who contribute their own time and effort to the  
> collective endeavor. As such, Drupal is developed not according to  
> client demand but by the interests of those participating in the  
> collaboration.
>
> What this means is that while feature suggestions are not  
> discouraged, Drupal users should understand that the best way to  
> get Drupal to do what they want is to participate in the development.
>
> This does not mean you need to be a PHP expert. Development moves  
> on many fronts, from PHP code to xhtml markup to CSS stylesheets to  
> documentation writing to simply helping where you can in the  
> support forums. Drupal benefits the most from your participation.  
> Kibitzing  is of limited value because, in the end, somebody has to  
> do the work.
>
> ---
>
> Laura
>
> Dries Buytaert wrote:
>>
>> On 02 Jan 2006, at 12:01, Robert Castelo wrote:
>>> 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
>>
>> 1. It is a fun but confusing title, IMO.
>>
>> 2. It duplicates information available in other book pages.  If  
>> you add or approve this, make sure to clean up some of the other  
>> pages!
>>
>> -- 
>> Dries Buytaert  ::  http://www.buytaert.net/
>>
>> --[ documentation | http://lists.drupal.org/listinfo/documentation ]
>
> -- 
> Laura Scott
> laura at pingv.com
> pingVision
> rare pattern
> -- 
> [ documentation | http://lists.drupal.org/listinfo/documentation ]

---
Editor
Crochet me Online Magazine
http://www.crochetme.com

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