Improving Ubuntu Help/Docs part 2B

[Daniel Robitaille]

On 4/29/06, David Tangye <tangye at exemail.com.au> wrote:
>
> Thanks to all for your input. Based on it, it appears my time will be
> wasted here - I'll just let you carry right on.
> Good luck.

I hope you don't do that.   Ubuntu always need people who use the
distro, know how to write documentation, and believe in the concept of
Linux as a better alternative to Windows.  And you seems to fit all of
those.

But all Ubuntu activities are also tied to the concept of the Ubuntu
Code of Conduct (http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct).  And as
such  you have to be respectful and considerate of the others, and a
few other things that code explains.  So you have to understand that
if you throw yourself into the activities of a team like this one that
has been going on for 1.5 years with a bunch of ideas explained in a
few sermon-like emails, there is a good chance that not all of them
will be accepted immediately, and people will also be resentful of
being told "that's the only correct way, and if if you don't
understand this I'll simply move on to something else without helping
you".   Just put yourself into the shoes of the members of this team,
if someone else was doing this to you.

Personally there are things I love about the Ubuntu project, and
things that drive me nuts.  But we are all on the same team and I have
to look beyond my own specific beliefs and I always have to think of
the good of the project in general, while slowly pushing my own
"agenda" and hope I will slowly steer away the project away from the
stuff that drives me nuts.   But that's not a given that these
personal goals will ever be achived, but that's not surprising
considering the hundred of people seriously involved in Ubuntu in
general (obviously the doc team is a simply a subset of all this)

In the context of the Ubuntu doc team, one way is to slowly start to
modify wiki pages,  discuss changes with others, trying to steer the
wiki docs toward something the team likes and you feel is better for
the users out there.  For the actual non-wiki released documentation,
that probably implies involving yourself in the early going after
Dapper's release when the team start planning via IRC meetings and
email discussions  for the next release, trying to get the
documentations the team produce  into a direction you feel we should
go.   Maybe take the lead on a specific document.   Do that for a few
weeks/months, involving yourself in the team activities,  showing that
you can walk the walk, and that all these concepts make sense for
Ubuntu, and you could be very surprised how much influence you could
gain in the decision-making process of this team.

But if you still feel that you don't want to get involved with the
doc-team, then good luck in whatever other actitivies you get involved
into.  But I sure hope you will continue promoting and contributing to
Ubuntu in ways you are confortable with because we still have that
annoying Bug #1 to deal with :)
(https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bug/1)

Daniel

--
Daniel Robitaille