[FM Discuss] scribn the bazaar

[Andy Oram]

I really liked the discussion about how FLOSS Manuals treats
contributors, how we view "expertise," etc. I don't want to drag out
the discussion, but I'll add a few points.

1. Here's a respected free-software developer who believes in
   restricting access to the source respository until the contributor
   is trained enough (I found this through radar.oreilly.com):

      http://jacobian.org/writing/commit-bits/

   Seems to go against our "come one, come all" philosophy, but maybe
   we do the same thing by dividing the WRITE page from the READ.

2. Publishers really depend on fame to drive sales. That's why Bill
   Clinton and Sarah Palin can get ridiculously high advances for
   writing books. O'Reilly still prides itself on taking smart but
   little-known people and getting good, popular books from them. But
   increasingly, we too are asking before we sign an author, "Is he
   well known? Do people read his blog, follow him on Twitter, etc.?"

3. Adam says documentation can be important even if very few people
   read it: I agree. Yes, I said sites should concentrate on things
   that a lot of people are reading--hey, if you have limited time and
   energy, that's one way to decide how to spend them. But I also care
   about documentation for important tasks. People don't buy books on
   the Linux kernel any more (they used to be at the center of my list
   at O'Reilly), but we'll all sure benefit if the few thousand people
   working on the kernel get help to do it better.

Andy