[documentation] Some thoughts

[Alan Palazzolo]

Steve,

I should just ignore your comments, because it your attitude and people
that share it that have the wrong attitude and really hold back this
wonderful Drupal community.  But here I am.

There is no issue of "thick skin".  This is a useless and arbitrary term.

What it comes down to is the issue of barrier to entry.  And it is
really high with lots of open source project and Drupal.  Shari is
sharing that experience (that is shared by thousands, maybe millions),
to help herself and our community to lessen that barrier.  You are a
part of that barrier.

No one is expecting for people to stop everything they are doing because
someone asked a question.  It's about creating a place and community
that that information is easy and understandable for everyone.

My assumption, Steve, your background probably involves using a computer
for a very long time, and Shari probably not.  Whether that assumption
is true for you two or not, it is a common situation.  There are many
people that want to contribute to Drupal and don't have the background,
the time, or even the passion that lots of other people share.  That
doesn't mean they should be turned away.  Just the opposite.

Steve, please foster contribution, and spend your precious time writing
about how people can help, instead of telling them how they need to live
their life, or how to have "thick skin".


-- 
Alan Palazzolo
Drupal Developer
http://zzolo.org



On 8/7/09 5:50 PM, Steve Dondley wrote:
> I'm not going to get into a point by point rebuttal over my advice.
> You can choose to ignore it and this will be my last post on this. But
> you stated:
> 
> "I've walked away from Drupal for 2 main reasons.
> 1. Documentation is way over my head.
> 2. Outside of the forum, it feels unfriendly."
> 
> All I'm saying is that if you really want to stick to it this time
> around and have success contributing, then develop a thicker skin.
> Don't take things personally if your aren't treated like a rock star
> because you want to help the community. That is all.
> 
> 
> On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 6:39 PM, Shari<webweaver64 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Yikes! umm Steve, I didn't ask for help with Drupal, or free help of any
>> kind other then how I could HELP with the documentation.
>>
>> Steve Dondley wrote the following, On 8/7/2009 5:04 PM:
>>
>> And let me play devil's advocate here.
>>
>> You may find some people who are willing to hold your hand for some
>> length of time for free, but they will be few and far between. You
>> should have no expectations of that and count your blessings when you
>> do.
>>
>>
>> I don't. I was responding to the call for people to help Drupal.
>>
>> To really succeed, you need to be self-motivated and develop a love
>> for the pleasure you feel when you stop banging your head walls for
>> several hours. The 25 min. you spent waiting for an answer form others
>> could have been hunting around on drupal.org finding an answer and
>> googling what the command line was.
>>
>>
>> And this is why people say what they say about Drupal.
>> Isn't the documentation for the self-motivated? I didn't sit and wait, I'm a
>> multitasker from way back. I wasn't looking for command line, I was looking
>> where to post suggestions for the documentation as requested in the issue. I
>> didn't know where to put that information.
>>
>> So what I'm saying is, you need to get over the "unfriendly" feeling
>> you have when someone doesn't immediately respond to your question.
>> You are owed nothing.
>>
>>
>> your right. I'm not owed anything, however I don't have to get over
>> anything. I was responding to Drupal.org request for contributing back.
>> >From what I've read, and heard, and seen, there is a movement to change the
>> publics view of Drupal. If you actually read my email I asked what I could
>> do, and made an observation. If the intent of the community isn't to become
>> more inclusive and user friendly, then hey sorry I offered to help. I'll
>> just continue on learning it for myself.
>>
>> My advice is to just put your head down, work hard, bang your head on
>> the wall, take pleasure when you figure something out, find something
>> else to do if you get stuck, contribute when you get a chance, and
>> count your blessing when you find someone who takes the time to give
>> you advice. But the bottom line is, free advice and a helping hand
>> will take you maybe 20% of the way there. The rest has to come from
>> within.
>>
>> Again, I wasn't asking for free advice or a helping hand for Drupal, but for
>> a way for ME to help in the documentation of Drupal.
>>
>> Steve, I'm very happy with the responses I've received. Yours however really
>> wasn't appropriate, nor even applied to what I was asking. I hope you day
>> turns out better then this email indicates. Maybe you should quit bagging
>> your head against the wall and take a break. I think I may have hit a nerve
>> and that wasn't my intention.
>>
>> Shari
>>
>> --
>> Pending work: http://drupal.org/project/issues/documentation/
>> List archives: http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/documentation/
>>
> 
> 
>