Re: How did *you* get into this business?

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> Here's a question I've been wondering about for some time: How and why
> do people get into the FAQ-maintaining business?

It must be that time of the year for asking this, I just got asked it in
real life a couple of times in the past week. :) But anyways back in 1989, when
I joined the net, I found a small wee group called eunet.micro.acorn which
talked about the machines I liked and used and was only making it out to New
Zealand because of a broken distribution 'barrier'.

It grew from it's humble 20 odd people beginings and formed into comp.sys.
acorn around late 1990. About that time we had started noticing that various
questions got asked alot. And people were getting tired of answering them every
second month. So, being a bit of a muggins, I suggested that we needed a FAQ
and did anyone feel like doing it?

Naturally it was universally agreed that it was a good idea. Just nobody
stepped forward to do it. So I drafted an initial one to get the ball rolling.
It was liked and I got stuck with the task. Around 1992 various people started
complaining loudly that I was supposedly being too difficult in adding
questions to the FAQ and that I was doing a terrible job.

After a lengthy argument I suggested that if they felt they could do better
they were welcome to take over the FAQ and do it themselves. I would send them
all the bits and relinquish it.

Oddly enough no one has taken me up on this. ;)

So I keep doing it. I find it a curious mixture of being most enjoyable,
because it helps people, and quite frustrating when some loud mouthed git
decides to use me as target practice for their flame thrower.

Philip

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• Next message: Monee C. Kidd: "Re: How did *you* get into this business?"
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• Maybe in reply to: Bill Keyes aka the Ferret-Meister: "How did *you* get into this business?"
• Next in thread: Rockn_Robin: "Re: How did *you* get into this business?"

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