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

[Andy Oram]

Isn't it funny how people can feel defensive about anything, even "open"
documentation?

I thought that free software projects were happy to have anybody write
anything (that's good) about the software and post it anywhere. Many sites
link freely to docs, videos, and screencasts written by others.

So I'd like to engage in dialog with these mysterious people who are so
concerned about the use of the "official" documentation and find out what
their fears are. Are they just afraid that work invested in documentation
will go to waste? Or that developers will stop spending time improving
documentation because they figure someone else will cover it? Or that
divergent sources of information will confuse people?

Andy

On 11/17/2010 07:08 AM, Scott Nesbitt wrote:
> 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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