Faq creation

[Clinton MacDonald]

Mr. White:

Christopher R. White wrote:

>>> Maybe if there were a listing of FAQs or Guides that need worked on 
>>> it would prompt more people to write things up! I would personally 
>>> be willing to write more if I knew what was needed.

I wish I (or one of our other YDL FAQ staff) could tell you exactly what 
was needed, but I don't think we know, yet -- we're making it up as we 
go along. The FAQ site is set up as a "Wiki," which means we can edit it 
on-the-fly from a Web browser. The Wiki concept allows for the FAQs to 
"evolve," topics being addressed as needed or by whim of the author 
(lots of whim -- we're pretty heavy on whim, at least at this stage). 
Individual topics can also be edited by any member of the FAQ staff, so 
that helps improve the editorial quality, too. It is kind of like Open 
Software, in this regard. Also like Open Software, the FAQ is a labor of 
love by the authors, and will have to come second to real life time 
constraints (we all have day jobs, and the demands of a real life; well, 
all except for me -- I lack a real life ;-) ).

Unlike Open Software, however, Bill Longman (our FAQer-in-Chief) does 
not yet want to make the site open for editing by the general public for 
reasons of bandwidth and control. I agree with Bill on this. At least 
until the current FAQers have a concrete picture of the design of the 
FAQ, it might be too anarchic to open the site to the public. However, 
we will probably open up the site later when the "Alpha" phase has 
passed and we know what we are doing. In the mean time, we are willing 
and eager to include any and all FAQs you (the YDL Mailing List 
community) are interested in writing.

This is all just a long way of saying that, if you, or any of the YDL 
list members would like to contribute in a larger way to the FAQ, Bill 
would be happy to add you to the password list. Just e-mail him, either 
directly or through this list.

>>> So I'm putting the question to the users. What FAQs or Guides would 
>>> you like to see on the YDL FAQ page? Perhaps if we get the word out 
>>> on what people would like to see, we can grow the documentation to 
>>> the point where we see fewer repeat postings to the Newbie list!  
>>> Wouldn't that be great!

That would be great! Please, everyone, respond to Mr. White's request 
for FAQs! Better still, write one yourself. I, or Bill, or Mascarasnake, 
or Norberto would be happy to post the FAQ item for you (plus, if the 
FAQ is sent to the Yellow Dog General list, it will be archived and 
searchable).

Keep in mind though, that the FAQ editors do not know everything. For 
instance, a question that often comes up is how to connect to the 
Internet using a modem. Well, I don't know because I have a DSL 
connection. Similarly, soon a lot of people will want to know whether 
they can install YDL 4.0 over YDL 3.0.1 without losing user data. Well, 
we won't know until someone does that experiment.

> Olaf Olson wrote:
>> Finally, it would be nice to have a full walk-through of a compile, 
>> like GAIM 0.79, or the 2.6.5 kernel, or something.
>>
>> Sound like fun, Chris?
>>
>> I'll help test it!

Sweet -- that would be great!

Best wishes,
Clint

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-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>