[documentation] wiki style help pages

Wed Apr 2 17:56:37 UTC 2008

Also not time to respond in detail but I would like to point out
something.  On the /handbook page.  The first paragraph.  Please read
it.  Please.

There are several links in it but the last sentence on the first
paragraph.  If you are interested in editing existing content then
sign up to help.  That links to a page with the various ways to
contribute.  It also has a paragraph with another link.  "Join the
documentation team" with detailed instructions.  While not as direct,
if you look at the revisions tab, we have had a similar link for more
then a year (which is when I enabled revisions on that page).

I am not really sure how much more obvious I can make it.  Adding
stuff to every page is a suggestion but we are also competing with a
lot of other information on each page.

Steven

On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 5:57 AM, Addison Berry <drupal at rocktreesky.com> wrote:
> I've not got time to digest and respond to the whole thread right now,
>  but just wanted to point out the instructions for joining docs are here:
>  http://drupal.org/node/23367, first page under the Contributing to
>  docs section.
>
>
>
>
>  On Apr 2, 2008, at 1:02 AM, ricco at webulite.com wrote:
>
>  > Steve,
>  >
>  > What you seem to be saying is that I am not missing something. That I
>  > cannot simply sign up to get a "EDIT PAGE" tab at the top of all doc
>  > pages. Assuming you are familiar with how the doc system works more
>  > than
>  > me, and your comment was inspired by my post.
>  >
>  > If you go to http://groups.drupal.org/WikiHelp, and follow any link
>  > to any
>  > page off the front, you will see they are wiki pages, and anyone
>  > then just
>  > clicks EDIT, and edits the page (would be cool if groups.drupal.org
>  > wiki
>  > pages had the TALK tab implemented and the wiki page content type
>  > had a
>  > default to "enable comments read/write, but that is a future
>  > feature, not
>  > one currently implemented in the groups.drupal.org world.) And yes,
>  > mediawiki calls what you are talking about a WATCH LIST, and you can
>  > sign
>  > up to monitor pages changes. And of course certain mediawiki gods
>  > can see
>  > revisions and undo bad edits.
>  >
>  > But you see how easy http://groups.drupal.org/WikiHelp pages are to
>  > edit?
>  > That was why I set the group up. I don't see what is unDrupal about
>  > it...
>  > in fact it seems to be simply a group like the 260 other groups, that
>  > allows members to create wiki pages like the other groups offer. It
>  > seems
>  > kind of odd that the moderators would allow a "spain drupal users
>  > group"
>  > or many of the other 260+ groups, but not tolerate a "WikiHelp"
>  > group. Not
>  > sure how it can hurt things, and it seems like it would be an
>  > experimentation environment that would help shed light on if the
>  > drupal
>  > doc group is not getting members because it is too hard to work, or if
>  > simply nobody care about documentation.
>  >
>  > I would bet that the WikiHelp group in 6 months would accumulate a
>  > great
>  > deal of user input simply because of the ease of it's use.
>  >
>  > It sounds like what you are implying is that there is a sort of heavy
>  > monitoring of the ability to edit doc pages, and that the goal is to
>  > keep
>  > every Tom, Dick, and Harry from doing updates. If that is the case, I
>  > simply have a totally philsophically different approach to how to
>  > get your
>  > user community to maintain and participate in documentation.
>  >
>  > So at this point I am trying to determine if it is a matter of I am
>  > missing how to become a documenter, becoming on, and then pointing
>  > out how
>  > you folks can change the drupal doc pages so that others that follow
>  > can
>  > change drupal doc pages simply by clicking one link... or... if Drupal
>  > purposely does not want every Tom dick and harry changing the
>  > docs... In
>  > which case you folks have to decide if you want to allow me to make
>  > make
>  > the http://groups.drupal.org/WikiHelp group, and see if i can prove
>  > that
>  > the fully open system will give you better docs in the long run...
>  > or if I
>  > should just forget about documentation, and go back to just being a
>  > Drupal
>  > user instead of trying to get involved with helping with Docs.
>  >
>  > Cheers! Ricco
>  >
>  >> Seems like a simple text link on top of every doc page that said:
>  >>
>  >> "Click here to help improve this document," or something to that
>  >> effect, with a link to the appropriate page on how to contribute to
>  >> documentation would be nice.
>  >>
>  >> I don't know what the thinking is behind the application for document
>  >> contributors is. Perhaps the hurdle is there to improve the signal to
>  >> noise ratio?
>  >>
>  >> One thing drupal's wiki feature lack is the ability to send out email
>  >> notifications when a page is updated. I think this is a crucial
>  >> feature that's needed before opening up documentation to every Tom,
>  >> Dick, and Harry who wants to change a page. That feature should
>  >> probably implemented before documentation became more open. This
>  >> would
>  >> make catching bad edits more timely.
>  >
>  >
>  > --
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>  > List archives: http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/documentation/
>
>  --
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>