Let me strongly agree with Larry here, and expand on this a bit with a
new idea.
Frist, to summarize some past history on faq-maintainers: net.citizens
who are new to the FAQ world hesitate to write new FAQs, because the
work involved seems daunting. Just doing the FAQ _text_ is _quite_
enough (or too much!) in itself, thank you very much :-), never mind
all the framework.
[Of course, *I*, Mark Linimon, keep all *my* FAQs up to date, and at the
latest spiffy standards, and with all the *best* cross-posting! Right?
Um. Well :-) ]
Anyway, perhaps we should define the more *general* problem as: what we
have is an _education_ problem.
OK, let me brainstorm a bit about a more general *solution*. Let's create
a multiple-part posting, or set of files, or something, that are
_suggested_ templates for new FAQ writers; and _multiple_ ones, to appeal
to posters at various levels of net.expertise. These templates should
be accompanied by explanations of _why_ the various features are there.
Basicallly, a complete set of "How to write FAQs" guides.
Perhaps it's easier to see what I mean by example:
1. A minimal FAQ with useful Subject:, Newsgroups:, and Reply-To lines.
2. A simple FAQ, as above but adding Subject: lines a la RFC 1134.
3. A medium complexity FAQ, as above but adding the work needed to
cross-post to *.answers.
4. A more complex multi-part FAQ, as above but adding References: lines.
5. A more complex FAQ as above, adding inter-references that can
be used with post-faq.pl.
6. A fully hypertexed FAQ, adding intra-FAQ references in standard URL
format.
In this way, as people want to dip their toes into the FAQ world, they
can start with something simple, but have a roadmap to migrate towards
in the future. Or, if they're quite net.literate, they can start with
the most complex version, and yet have the explanations for the various
features from the simpler ones for reference, if they get stuck.
The more I look at this idea, the more I think that it solves not just
the URL problem, but the larger, underlying, problem.
Thoughts?
Mark Linimon
(p.s. yes, I'm willing to volunteer to be on the team on this, sigh)
--
Mark Linimon / Lonesome Dove Computing Services / Roanoke, Virginia
{chinacat,uunet}!nominil!linimon || linimon@lonesome.com
"It's a small town, son, may I ask what you're doing here?"
I am coming to believe that Netnews is the digital equivalent of junk food...
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