Agreed. We had started a technical FAQ's section awhile back, but contribution to it was low. And, I can't even find that page anymore because it was on the old Wiki. Another problem is that information is so scattered that it can be very difficult for new users to comprehensively put it all together and get going. This includes both internal resources and various external pages that miscellaneous people have created. For instance, my MGOS install includes information from the main MGOS site, from the FDO wiki for GDAL configuration, from a few scattered posts in Nabble such as Jason's GDAL patch, from some manual code changes to Fusion from notes that reside in Fusion Trac tickets, and so on. It's pretty crazy when you think about it. No wonder it can be so difficult for new users to get started!
A consolidation of these internal and external resources on the OSGeo site and creating a dedicated "getting started" page would be a good first step. Then, making this page VERY obvious from the main MGOS page and encouraging people to contribute. I would be willing to take an initial stab at this. Who else would like to be involved? From there, we can move the discussion off-list. Andy -----Original Message----- From: mapguide-users-boun...@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:mapguide-users-boun...@lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Zac Spitzer Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 10:42 AM To: MapGuide Users Mail List Subject: Re: [mapguide-users] Posting Guidelines i think we are lacking in website side of things to be honest On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 3:37 AM, Andy Morsell<amors...@spatialgis.com> wrote: > Maybe we could have a wiki page with posting guidelines including links to > places to research and suggested research techniques. And, most > importantly, have every message go through an administrator. If the > administrator feels the message meets the guidelines, then the message gets > posted. Otherwise, they get a rejection message pointing them to the > posting guidelines. I realize this ads significant overhead, but if we had > several of us volunteering to do admin duties, it might be doable. Any > thoughts? > > > > Andy Morsell, P.E. > > Spatial Integrators, Inc. > > 47° 46' N 116° 49' W > > www.SpatialGIS.com > > > > From: mapguide-users-boun...@lists.osgeo.org > [mailto:mapguide-users-boun...@lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Dave Wilson > Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 10:19 AM > To: MapGuide Users Mail List > Subject: [mapguide-users] Posting Guidelines > > > > Why have people just suddenly given up and begun posting: "Thing broken? > Help". > > > > I'm not directing this at anyone in particular... I'm just pointing out we > probably need some posting guidelines here as this is getting a bit > ridiculous. > > > > 1) If you have a question, don't just ask - research it first on > http://www.nabble.com search and include MapGuide. At least 40% of the > questions asked here have been asked before. > > 2) When you post a question about an error - always include the error! > > 3) Include your OS, Web Server, which API you are using if applicable > > 4) Be specific about the type of data involved and which provider you are > using > > > > I'm trying to keep this list short so that it's not hard work. > > > > Anyone else have any suggestions or want to improve the points I suggested > above? > > > > I'm tempted to suggest modifying the signature response of these emails to > include 1 or 2 more URL's to the main MapGuide info sites so that people > know where to look for things. > > > > Dave > > > > > > Dave Wilson, AEC IM > > CRT QA Analyst > > Autodesk Canada, Inc. > 21st Floor > > 645 7th Ave SW > > Calgary, AB T2P 4G8 > > Direct 403-538-3069 > > Fax 403-264-1442 > > > > _______________________________________________ > mapguide-users mailing list > mapguide-users@lists.osgeo.org > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapguide-users > > -- Zac Spitzer - http://zacster.blogspot.com +61 405 847 168 _______________________________________________ mapguide-users mailing list mapguide-users@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapguide-users _______________________________________________ mapguide-users mailing list mapguide-users@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapguide-users