What the FAQ (was Re: Noobie list)

[Longman, Bill]

I have a web server.
I have a 45MBit internet connection.
I have technical writing experience.

I'd be glad to host the page at SLA. Let me find out how I can provide a
tractable FAQ "experience".

Bill

> Well, I was half joking (but half serious) when I wrote that. Writing 
> and curating a FAQ for this group will be quite a job -- and 
> most of us 
> already have day jobs! In addition to the authorial and 
> editorial work 
> involved, we are going to need a Web host, archive space 
> (preferably the 
> free or low cost kind), a Web/database guru, and so on.
> 
> In no particular order, and with no immediate goals in mind, here are 
> some things I have thought about with regards to a FAQ:
> 
> [1] Several months ago Mascarasnake and I discussed starting 
> up a FAQ (I 
> even had some Earthlink Web space at the time), but we soon realized 
> that neither of us had the time to devote to the project. What I 
> imagined we would do was collect some of the answers that 
> were proposed 
> on this very list, tidy them up with some HTML (I was trying 
> to grok CSS 
> style sheets at the time), and post it on the Web. Even this 
> simple goal 
> was a little more than we had the time and skill to put together.
> 
> [2] A simpler approach might be to have a text-based FAQ that 
> could be 
> simply hosted on some Web site somewhere, and we could post to the 
> mailing lists a link to it once a week.
> 
> [3] I don't think we can expect much help from Terra Soft (though I 
> might be wrong about this -- it wouldn't hurt to ask). Terra Soft's 
> business is in *selling* Yellow Dog Linux support. It would not be a 
> very business-savvy decision to undercut that model.
> 
> [4] We probably do not want to recapitulate the entire Linux Web, but 
> should instead focus on YDL-specific issues. There are many 
> thousands of 
> Web sites with very, very helpful advice for everyone from Newbies to 
> Old Farts, and everyone in between. I don't think we can expect to go 
> out and set the Linux world afire by doing a better help desk 
> (I think 
> that is one of the suggestions Ed has made). Instead, we can focus on 
> YDL-specific issues, while including pointers to popular How-To sites 
> for inevitable "How do I edit my fstab in vi?" questions.
> 
> [5] Having a willing technical editor with experience in tech writing 
> and has a couple of surge protectors for her Baby G3s, :-) 
> can only be a 
> help.
> 
> [6] That being said, now that both the Newbies and the 
> General mailing 
> lists are both being archived (hurrah!!!!!), the need for a FAQ is 
> slightly less disparate.
> 
> What have I not covered, folks?
> 
> Best wishes,
> Clint
> 
> -- 
> Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT 
sbcglobal DOT net>

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