<orcnote comment="below" /> -----Original Message----- From: Joe Schaefer [mailto:joe_schae...@yahoo.com] Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2012 12:00 To: dennis.hamil...@acm.org; ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org Subject: Re: Java download link on AOO site
The thing is Dennis, it is self-defeating for the org to fund my work on the CMS to make it a more effective collaboration tool for Apache communities if projects don't start expecting committers and end users alike to take advantage of it. If this is the new norm, where application of project documentation is no longer expected for Apachedev-list participation, then I'll adjust my plans accordingly. I do know that Infra would never survive with only 3-4 staffers if we didn't expect committers to read/apply/critique/fixour documentation. Whether it is difficultto use the CMSor super easy makes no difference to anyoneif only a select few areexpectedto even try. [ ... ] <orcnote> I find this very strange in an open-source context. The expectation that there is an eager or required group of users seems odd. How was that arrived at? I also find it strange to project a duty onto volunteers. Most volunteers get to choose what their duties are. - Dennis Notes from my personal, narrow perspective on how I deal with finding low-friction, high-payoff places to put my attention and energy: I am not adverse to "build-it-and-they-might-come" development (because if I don't they definitely won't), but not with any expectation that there are any people anxiously waiting to dog-food my efforts. That means I seek satisfaction in the effort itself, without much expectation beyond that beyond a hope of being of some use to others. I also don't expect anyone to pay me for such self-indulgence on my part. With regard to the ASF CMS, the only thing I know about it is the on-list encouragement of folks to use a bookmark that makes editing the web site easier. I know nothing more than that. I don't even know what browser the bookmark may be limited to (nor am I in a hurry to find out). There are many more things that I know how to do that are where I will put my attention more readily. I've not learned MarkDown, for example, because I never needed to before, although I can fake wikiText well enough, and learn little bits more as needed in dealing with a particular wiki format. Meanwhile, I have many ways to edit (web) pages in an SVN Working Copy. But the ASF site-publishing process and the way pages are merged on the site is still something I haven't picked-up on. I will eventually learn MarkDown more systematically because I want to pay closer attention to Ward Cunningham's Smallest-Federated-Wiki, not because it is used underneath anything at the ASF. I may end up supporting SFW it on a site of my own. For that, MarkDown gets more of my attention. I only managed to write Apache OO(i) blog posts by finding out how to use Windows LiveWriter to compose them off-line and publish them automatically. Although I got the required use of drafts wrong, I have succeeded in making posts the way I know best and that serve some personal requirements that I have around blog authoring. I also refused to give up maintaining an AOO(i) roster and committer-intake tracker in OpenOffice Calc when folks complained that there are no diffs for commits to that binary-format document. Instead, I make sure that the commit messages describe what was changed or added for those who want to follow along via reading commit messages. In all cases, it is about finding ways to get the work done that I have taken on, not on diversions into toolcraft. It's different when everything's new. That's not where I find myself these days. </orcnote>
