FAQ page

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

On Jul 27, 2006, at 5:32 AM, Matthew Nuzum wrote:
>
> While idling in #ubuntu-doc I heard that there were some lamentations
> about the state of the www.ubuntu.com/support/faq page... let me know
> what you think needs done there; I can edit that page.
> ...

I think FAQs made sense where they were invented, in mailing lists and 
Usenet groups before the Web existed, because new subscribers had no 
other reference to look at.

I think FAQs do not make any sense at all on a Web site, for several 
reasons.
*   Many people don't know what a "FAQ" is.
*   Most people have no idea whether their Q is FA.
*   They're very much longer than people are comfortable with reading.
*   The answers about a particular topic aren't together with the rest
     of the information about the same topic elsewhere on the site
     (except in the pathological case where a FAQ contains the *only*
     information about that topic).

So I suggest eliminating both the FAQ pages from ubuntu.com. For 
example, the questions about ShipIt should be answered in the ShipIt 
interface. The "How do I get Ubuntu?" questions should be built into a 
prominent "Get Ubuntu" section of the site, providing downloading and 
burning instructions as well as links to ShipIt and Amazon. The "How do 
I get support?" and "How do I get more help?" sections should be 
incorporated into the Support page. And the Ubuntu Partnership Program 
FAQ should be merged with the "Become a partner" page, with which it is 
mostly redundant already.

Cheers
-- 
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/