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

[Michael McAndrew]

The way I see it, a floss manual is a book like any other book.  It's
another way people can learn about a project.

I guess people might get more defensive about a FM book rather than say an
oreilly book because FM and 'the docs' are written in a similar way, and I
am guessing that the people who were making noises felt like they didn't
have lot of documentation for their project?

Maybe this is a reminder of the importance of good relations and
communication with the project we are writing about.

Michael


On Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 2:31 PM, Andy Oram <praxagor at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Discuss mailing list
> > Discuss at lists.flossmanuals.net
> > http://lists.flossmanuals.net/listinfo.cgi/discuss-flossmanuals.net
>
>
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>
>


-- 
Michael McAndrew
07817 802299 (mobile)

Third Sector Design Ltd.
http://thirdsectordesign.org

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