[documentation] Hitchhikers guide to Drupal

[Kim P. Werker]

Robert, thanks for your post. It's fascinating to me.

It seems I'm coming from a fairly unique place (though maybe I'm  
wrong) -- I can't help but wonder why developers put tons of effort  
into something without having the goal for it to reach as many users  
as possible. I'm only now somewhat coming to understand.

But here's the thing -- more and more users are like me. I'm not a  
developer -- I'm just a happy Drupaler. With 2005's massive growth,  
it seems there's a rapidly growing mass of users like me. I thought  
Drupal was for people like us, but I'm learning that's not the intent.

I started a forum thread a couple of weeks ago because I'm desperate  
to help with newbie-oriented documentation. There's a fair amount of  
resistance; I couldn't really understand why. One of the most salient  
objections to our idea of starting a sister site with newbie-oriented  
how-tos and case studies is that it would splinter resources. But the  
more I understand of the goals of Drupal development in general, the  
more convinced I'm getting that eventually some folks with popular  
marketing and "average" end-users in mind are going to splinter off  
into their own distribution with prettier packaging, slightly  
smoother edges, and more straightforward, newbie-oriented  
documentation. And I won't think that's a bad idea at all. But I  
wonder if it might not be so great for drupal.org...

Hm. I'm pretty much just thinking out loud, so to speak. Are these  
questions that come up often, or is it that Drupal's coming to a  
turning point?

Cheers,
Kim

On 5-Jan-06, at 2:40 PM, Robert Castelo wrote:

> 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
> --
> [ documentation | http://lists.drupal.org/listinfo/documentation ]

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

This is your brain on yarn.