[documentation] Proposal for a "Contributing to Drupal" handbook section

[Shai Gluskin]

Documenters,

Sounds like some awesome work went on on Friday. I wish I could have stayed.

Regarding the overall structure proposed:

Get an Account
>     Talk With The Community
>     Use the Issue Queue
>
>     Report a Problem
>     Suggest Features
>
>     Write Documentation
>     Test New Features
>
>     Contribute Themes
>     Contribute Code


I think there is a blending of "support" and "contribute" in this list which
may be confusing to folks.

I think that "Ask for help" would be better than "Talk with the community".
I think that part of what is behind the formulation "Talk with the
community" is that we desire to communicate the depth, complexity, and
richness of what Drupal is and what the community is. But I believe that
thinking of these pages in usability terms would be helpful. Newcomers
arrive on these landing pages looking for help, not seeking a conversation.

I think the most important thing when people arrive on the site having
questions about Drupal is that they get quick, friendly, and helpful
answers. In this way the newcomer will *experience* community. With that
experience under his/her belt, it will be much more likely that we'll be
able to get their attention focussed on a "Contribute" page.

I do think that we can sprinkle hints within the support pages that will
point to a path that invites and expects contribution.  For example, in the
paragraph on http://drupal.org/support that introduces the  forums, a line
could be added, "You don't need to be an expert to start helping out in the
forums." In this way we set the tone that this is a participatory community.

I know there is a documentation team, but is there a support team? I don't
think so. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The support listserve is not for
folks strategizing/monitoring the current level of support within Drupal and
how to make it better. Rather it's a listserve for people seeking support
and those willing to help out. I think if we really want to do better at
welcoming and reaching out to newcomers, we actually need a support team
that will strategize and monitor support. There are all kinds of ways that
we can get metrics on support that I'm sure the d.o. infrastructure folks
could help us out with (e.g. average lag time between a question and first
response; number of unanswered questions per/month etc.) These metrics would
help a support team to strategize solutions.

I think I may be talking to a different issue to what the sprinters were
addressing on Friday. I certainly wholeheartedly support efforts to better
organize d.o. in ways that will help folks seeking help and those desiring
to contribute.

Best,

Shai


On 3/8/08, Michael F <birdmanx35 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I just want to give a huge +infinity to this.
> I love the idea of d.o. book, and this section sounds beautiful. I can't
> wait to see it, or help out.
>
>
> --
> Sincerely,
> Michael
>
> --
> Pending work: http://drupal.org/project/issues/documentation/
> List archives: http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/documentation/
>
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