[documentation] Hitchhikers guide to Drupal

[Robert Castelo]

On 5 Jan 2006, at 13:43, Dries Buytaert wrote:
> 1. It is a fun but confusing title, IMO.

I agree that the title is fun but gives little indication of what the 
page is about - on the other hand pages with fun titles are more likely 
to be read.

On 5 Jan 2006, at 13:52, andre wrote:
> 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."

True. Lets keep the concepts but run the whole thing through a 
diplomacy filter.

If we do need to post a comment referring wingers to this page it would 
be great to also display in the post a large icon of a cheese board... 
"would you like some cheese with your whine?" ;-)

On 5 Jan 2006, at 15:57, Charlie Lowe wrote:
> Those users who do not contribute visibly on the project may be 
> helping by spreading the word about Drupal, and thus potentially 
> getting more contributors.

My gut feeling is that the benefits of that are negligible, as far as 
providing more resources for Drupal.

On 5 Jan 2006, at 18:37, Kim P. Werker wrote:
> 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.

Kim has hit the nail on the head, this is exactly what we need to 
address....

My understanding is that developers code features that they need for 
their projects, then donate their code to Drupal. This may sound very 
altruistic but actually is very practical, because as Drupal's feature 
list grows each developer is able to deliver a solution for bigger and 
more diverse projects - projects that they wouldn't have a hope in hell 
of being able to compete for on their own.

It doesn't really matter if some developers put in more than others, 
the combined effort is what's important.

...alternatively some developers also create features because they have 
a cool idea, and just can't resist writing the code. I'll hold up my 
hand on that one.

The Drupal community as a whole has an altruistic goal of creating a 
tool which helps people better communicate, most developers are happy 
if the work they do contributes towards that, but will not shelve 
profitable or interesting work to spend their limited time on features 
they themselves don't need or have an interest in.

So it's not that end users aren't welcome, they are, but they're not 
the target of developers work in the way a commercial application would 
be. Drupal's popularity with non-technical administrators doesn't 
affect developers in any way.

On 5 Jan 2006, at 18:55, Boris Mann wrote:
> The desire for a document like this is to have a single page to link 
> to quell the "useless" kvetching/whining that comes up.

Exactly.

It's like someone going to a self service restaurant and asking the guy 
at the next table to go get the meal because they are used to being 
waited on at restaurants.

Mmmh, maybe we can change the metaphor to that instead of hitchhiking. 
It doesn't imply that end users are potential serial killers ;-)

On 5 Jan 2006, at 16:01, Laura Scott wrote:
> 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.

I like Laura's text, but I think the message will sink in deeper if we 
can get the point across better using a metaphor that users will 
intuitively understand.


Best regards,

Robert