[FM Discuss] scribn the bazaar

[adam hyde]

hey

On Wed, 2009-11-11 at 10:05 -0500, Andy Oram wrote:
> 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.

I also like this conversation. I have to apologise if sometimes I sound
a little preachy. I am trying to bat the corner of the FM model *as I
see it* and I think I over egg it sometimes and don't keep the door open
for more discussion. I will try to moderate myself a little better i
think ;)

> 
> 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.
> 

its funny you should bring this up. I just had a very interesting
experience related to this. I facilitated a great sprint recently and we
made a nice book. However afterwards the original contributors did not
want (at all) to have the content available for anyone to be able to
edit unless it was stored in a repository that would enable incremental
merges and they would prefer to know the contributors. In essence they
are pretty strong gatekeepers to the content. They are also very
hesitant in sharing crediting for contributions. I was actually quite
shocked so I spoke with Aco and Biella Coleman about it to get a clear
perspective on it. 

As I see it now, there are some open source developers out there that
want to put the same locks in place on content as they do for code. In
the open source world (please correct me anyone if i get this wrong)
repositories can be cloned but merging into the main code base requires
validation. To be validated you must first gain trust (social and
technical), and then be able to manage the technical processes.

This might work in the code world, and it might work for books. However,
my feeling is that if the programmers would open their eyes and try a
completely open process, and a less technical one, they would not be
disappointed. So far FM has not been disappointed in this as far as I
know - please disagree with me anyone if you see it otherwise.

My experience recently has been that bringing some open source
developers into the free content world can be a little tricky. With
every group so far (and we have worked with a lot of developers) there
hasnt been a problem. However, I failed with this particular group, to
convince them to 'try our way'. They may very well succeed, and the
model is interesting, and I wish them all the luck, but I wish they
would try something outside of their realm a little first...especially
since (I believe) some content projects have failed because of too many
gatekeeping processes. What I hope doesnt happen is their content gets
locked away and no one bothers to contribute to it but this is the risk
I think they are taking.


> 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.?"

interesting. how much do you think this kind of profile helps the sales
of books vs it 'just being a good book'?


> 
> 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.

super! hmmmm!....im off on holiday tomorrow...good points to ponder on
the plane :)

adam


> 
> Andy
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-- 
Adam Hyde
Founder FLOSS Manuals
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Email : adam at flossmanuals.net
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