Re: FAQ formats

Frank Gadegast (phade@cs.tu-berlin.de)
Sun, 30 Jul 1995 10:08:06 +0200 (MET DST)

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Yisrael Hersch
>
>
> Hi,
>
> IMHO, one important consideration that is being overlooked with all of
> this talk about FAQ formats, is getting started. The subject if
> standards can be (and usually is) intimidating to a beginner. Our
> primary goal should be to ensure that the newbie doesn't get frightened
> off. What we don't want to do is scare away a potential FAQ
> author/maintainer (read: contributor of knowledge to the network
> community) by spewing forth a bunch of jargon and rules. Even if the
> standards aren't binding, the newcomer will be afraid that he/she is
> "doing something wrong."

Hm, I think the other way round. When I started to write the MPEG-FAQ
I would have been very happy to have a straight ruleset that would tell
me, what's the best and what to prevent. I had NO interest in a personal
outfit or something and rather liked to prevent any confusion of the
readers of the FAQ.

>
> Remember, everyone has their own priorities and outlooks. For example,
> I'm kept very busy working on my FAQs. I would LOVE to html'ize them,
> but I simply don't have the time. And, in my case, I need extra time to
> learn how to do it altogether. I imagine that someday I'll get it done,

That specially why I would loved to have; somebody telling me how
to set up a FAQ that is easy to convert into HTML BEFORE I started
writing it. I had to do this step about 3 month ago and had to
restyle the outfit of the whole FAQ :o(

> but meanwhile, my articles fill a need now.
>
> In addition, I chose a format for my FAQs, and I stick to it. This
> format works well for me, and I've had no complaints. If I had to use

Well, but that is rather selfish, isn't it ? Would it not
be nicer to have just some easy, working formats that wouldnt
confuse the user ? Would it not be better for compilation,
FAQ-archives and whatever to have formats that are analysable ?
(is that the right word ??? analyzable ?? anyway ...)

> another format, well, maybe I wouldn't bother (or maybe I would).
>
> Remember, FAQ writing isn't just for gurus. We want everyone to become

Yes, right, so take to new writers by the hand and lead then into
the right direction. When I started (about 5 years ago) I didnt
even know, that there should be questions and answers in it, I though
its just a compilation of whatsoever information !!!

> involved, to participate, and contribute. Let's not spook anyone -
> rather we should lead them by the hand to help them get acclimated.
>
> Russ Hersch
>

Best regards, Phade

Maintainer of the MPEG-FAQ, URL=http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~phade/mpegfaq

<=========================================================>
Frank Gadegast url : http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~phade
"KeyJ Phade" e-mail: phade@cs.tu-berlin.de

"ISODE is a program to turn ideas into handicaps."

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