I can help

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

Hi John,

Thanks for your message!

On 2020-07-21 04:24, John Shipp wrote:
> hi.  I'd like to contribute to the Ubuntu Community Wiki.  I joined
> the "Ubuntu Wiki Editors" team, but I don't seem to have permission
> to edit the wiki.

Did you log in?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CommunityHelpWiki

> After being let down by the wiki while trying to setup a persistent
> mount in my fstab, I stumbled upon the answer in this bug report,
> which is 7 YEARS old.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-docs/+bug/1244123
> 
> A guy had the answer, but was told the edit the wiki himself.  It's
> apparently not easy to edit the wiki.

I was the one who suggested that. And yes, it's pretty easy once you are 
logged in. :)

You need to understand what the Community Help Wiki is about. It 
consists of contributions from community members. Ideally those who put 
up new pages keep maintaining them, but that's not always the case. 
Anybody with sufficient skill can jump in and improve an existing page, 
but there are not enough people who do that kind of work, and as a 
result some pages are outdated.

Previously there was a team dedicated to monitoring the Community Help 
Wiki, but its members stepped down.

> I stuck my head in the IRC room too but then noticed the IRC Archive
> which shows the IRC room is pretty much dead.  The bug is fairly
> major, Ubuntu doesn't actually mount a windows share at boot without
> the option i'm trying to add to the fstab line, and it's embarrassing
> for the wiki to be so bad.
> 
> I have an updated page I'd like to upload (see attached).
> 
> A lot of the content on the MountWindowsSharesPermanently page
> pertains to obsolete versions of Ubuntu, and should be removed or
> archived, so people won't have to wade thru so much mess to get what
> they need.  I would rewrite the whole page from scratch if somebody
> would let me.

Please feel free to go ahead and improve it, if you have enough 
knowledge on the topic.

> Ubuntu-doc's own documentation needs a lot of attention.  For
> example, on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/MeetingAgenda,
> "The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 30, 2017 @ 18:00 UTC"
> - um, is there anybody at the wheel anymore?

Well, I am as regards the official desktop guide, together with Doug 
Smythies who helps with the publishing at <https://help.ubuntu.com>. But 
that is quite a different kind of work compared with maintaining the 
Community Help Wiki.

> I believe I would be a good candidate to take the wheel if the
> position is open.

Unfortunately most positions are open. If your interest is primarily the 
Community Help Wiki, it would be much appreciated if you would like to 
work with improvement of those pages/sections where you have the 
sufficient knowledge to do so.

As regards the official desktop guide, an extra member would certainly 
be welcome. My time/energy suffices to keep it rolling, but the contents 
would need more attention. Please note, though, that there is a learning 
curve before you would be able to really contribute to the desktop guide.

> I've also noticed a few minor grammar mistakes on other pages, and I
> would fix them if I can.
> 
> I over 20 years experience in helping "normal" people with computer
> problems.  I can put things in words that beginners can understand.
> Don't just take my word for it, you can read some of my articles at
> jshipp.com/articles.  I'm a self employed I.T. advisor.  I've been
> using Ubuntu Server in several production environments for 13 years
> and I ditched Windows for Ubuntu Desktop about a year ago.  It was an
> easy switch at home where I mainly use a web browser, remmina, and a
> printer. Switching my work computer was NOT easy but I stuck in there
> and got thru it.  I almost gave up several times, and learned a lot
> on the way. I took good notes and I believe my notes would be a great
> addition to the community wiki.

-- 
Cheers,

Gunnar Hjalmarsson
https://launchpad.net/~gunnarhj