[documentation] Contributors to docs need more public recognition

[Brian Choc]

>> -  How will people know they can contribute?  How can we make it more
>> visible that they can?  The very first paragraph on the /handbooks
>> page, please read it.  It has two links on this information.  This is
>> an issue I have been pondering for quite some time but no matter how
>> many places we add this information, no matter how many times we tell
>> people it seems we always have people that don't see the information.
>
>Putting it prominently on every documentation page would at least
>guarantee that anyone who looked at *any* documentation page had the
>opportunity to see it.  That is hundreds and hundreds of pages rather than
>just a few.  Constant repetition is often the best way to reinforce a
>message.  As for exactly why they aren't seeing (or paying attention to or
>remembering or believing) the current notice, I would not claim to know. 
>I have some theories, but they are just speculation at this point...


As a reasonably new person with no claim to any topical authority
what-so-ever, I'll throw in my two bits.  Shoot 'em down, it's cool; I've
got next-to-zero Drupalego.

I would say that I *browse* to a manual page perhaps next to never.  Maybe
less.  I typically land on a page by searching, either the Drupal search or
a general websearch.  I would anticipate I am not alone in this, and that
/handbook is not the most common landing-point (of course, the web-stats
should trace people's paths and give a proper answer ... so maybe I'm way
off base).
 
>From my point of view on usability, I think any paragraph on any handbook
page that is not the one the user is looking at *at that moment* is
irrelevant.  Whether that means credits or a block or revisions or some
different form I'm not even going to touch here, but I think there should be
some draw to get involved.

While I didn't notice it at first, I would add a close read of the page does
show me a "Join the doc team" link (that as of this moment does not actually
link) in the "Quick links" menu, but this does not tell me who or what or
why.

Lively topic, this one,
Brian