[FM Discuss] Does FLOSS Manuals hurt other doc efforts?

[Scott Nesbitt]

This is something that Adam and I have been discussing in a few emails, and
now it's time to take the idea to the wider list for comment.

Here's the background: last month, I did a presentation about FLOSS Manuals
at the Free Software Open Source Symposium. During the presentation (and a
couple of times during the day) people asked me if FLOSS Manuals drives
people away from the "official" documentation. I try to explain that one of
the goals of FLOSS Manuals is to get people up and running with whatever
technology quickly and in a very friendly way. But FMs don't cover
everything -- FLOSS Manuals gets you going. If you want to delve deep, deep
into the software or technology, the official docs are still there. That
seems to get them even more interested.

But that question showed something of a gap in perception, IMO. In my mind,
it's not FLOSS Manuals vs. the official documentation or other docs/sources
of information. There's not such thing as too much documentation and no one
source can be THE source. FM doesn't try to be the last word in
documentation. It doesn't answer all the questions or have all the
information. The FM should (and usually does) point people to other sources
of documentation so they can get a deeper view.

So, what are your thoughts on this? Does FLOSS Manuals hurt, hinder, or put
into the shade other documentation efforts? Or are we one big ecosystem,
living in something akin to symbiosis (or commensalism)? Let's get some
discussion going!

I'm looking forward to your comments. Which, unfortunately, I won't be able
to read until this evening (Eastern time) :-)

Scott
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