Maybe FAQs aren't very useful

[Jonathan Jesse]

+1 to this.  When I was looking for an issue w/ Warty when I first started
using Ubuntu, I turned not to the documentation but to the Wiki and also my
favorit tool: google, which linked back to the Wiki.  Search: ubuntu
problems w/ mp3 playback   Search:  ubuntu setting up nvidia drivers and
then I found the correct spot on the wiki.  Maybe we are trying to hard to
recreate the wheel?

To be honest, I didn't read the quickguide until I started working w/ the
doc group.  Everything else I found on the web.
-----Original Message-----
From: ubuntu-doc-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com
[mailto:ubuntu-doc-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com]On Behalf Of
whorush at comcast.net
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 10:15 PM
To: Matthew Thomas; Ubuntu Doc List
Subject: Re: Maybe FAQs aren't very useful


i hope i don't start another new topic with this!

i totally agree, FAQs are usually not very helpful.  again, i think people
have tasks, they come to the documentation to figure out how to get them
done.  therefore, i think that documentation should be organized by tasks.

what FAQ is my question in?  besides, there are so many FAQs!  and they
overlap, often giving conflicting info.  again, i also think this makes the
whole structure incredibly hard to maintain, but i'm new here, so of course,
i wouldn't know.  ;-)  point is though, say you want to change something,
its going to be a lot easier if there's only one entry in one place.

so yeah i would like to sign up for the jihad.

MATT EAST, i read your site.  few things.  under the heading “Wiki Subject
Matter”...

the Documentation heading, what does that mean?  isn't this all
documentation?  isn't anything that would be under Hardware documentation
also?

it would help if you put in there what was supposed to go in these
categories.  just a general idea.

FAQ.  sorry, just joined the jihad.

Installation Documentation.  :-)

Desktop Documentation, what would go in there?  that seems incredibly
general.

System Documentation, again, super general.

thinking out loud,

1 how to use the wiki

2 installation documentation, how to install java, realplayer, etc.

3 ubuntu loves WINDOWS documentation, with stuff like how to mount your
windows drive and how to get grub to recognize the partition, etc.

4 Hardware Support, or Driver Suport documentation

i'm a newbie, so my scope is pretty limited.


> Corey Burger wrote:
> >...
> > There are already pages for most of what you propose. What is really
> > needed is a "1st 20 minutes FAQ". Wikis being wikis, you can create
> > that page, so that all of us and the general public can make it most
> > useful.
> >...
>
> Maybe it's time we went on an anti-"FAQ" jihad throughout the wiki.
> Answering frequently asked questions seems like a great idea from the
> writer's point of view (and I say this as a former FAQ author), but from
> the point of view of someone looking for help, they probably have
> *absolutely no idea* whether the question they want an answer to is one
> that's frequently asked by other people or not. (They may not even know
> what "FAQ" stands for.)
>
> Instead we could sort documents by topic -- "Installation", "Hardware",
> "Playing movies and music", "Specialty software and how to find it", and
> so on. *Then* if wiki stats (or forum questions) show us that some pages
> are wanted much more often than others, quick links to those pages can
> be put at the top of category pages in addition to their places in the
> appropriate subcategories.
>
> --
> Matthew Thomas
> http://mpt.net.nz/
>
> --
> ubuntu-doc mailing list
> ubuntu-doc at lists.ubuntu.com
> http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-doc

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