We are also new to this group, having just taking over the task of
maintaining the Turbo Vision C++ FAQ (Turbo Vision is a BI, Inc product) a
couple of months ago. For what it's worth, some random jottings from us.
graham@mhn.org (Graham Mainwaring) wrote:
> I have a couple questions for the established FAQ-maintainers "out there":
Not so well established either :) See above.
> - Is it worth doing a FAQ, given that Borland has a fairly extensive Web
> site with lots of product information available?
Yes. Our advice - go for it. There is the satisfaction of sharing a common
interest and publishing the relevant information. Borland (or any other
software house), as far as we know cannot physically cover all queries, faq,
technical feedback - hence the rise of SIGs, newsgroups, FAQs and the like;
self help pushes the grey matter, anyway.
Having said that, we have tried four times to contact Borland just to advise
them that we started the FAQ and, for Borland Australia, that we were running
it on their turf. No response.
There are periodic complaints - some quite serious - about the lack of
technical assistance from Borland on the net. They do not have a presence at
all on the net (a few oblique references notwithstanding).
The manual that accompanied TV C++ was, IMHO, an appalling piece of work
that Borland should ashamed of (as it shifted the cost of the lack of quality
control onto the user). It is the major contributing factor to the steep
learning curve associated with this particular Borland product.
The Borland web/ftp sites has obviously been designed by multi-media
"experts" but it seriously falls short of being a useful information resource.
It's been turned into a trendy advertisement for their wares. Material
useful to programmers (such as favourite *.zip files and TIs) has been
withdrawn in favour of the sales pitch.
For these reasons, an FAQ for Delphi (even though we are not using it) is an
excellent idea if past experience is anything to go by. Added to this, a
newsgroup/faq stimulates new approaches to some old problems if you believe
that more heads are better than one.
> Is there a Delphi FAQ already in the formative stages, and if so, are
> the maintainers interested in my notes?
> - If I do this, will it take over my life? Will I ever have a free moment
> again?
I suppose there might be a correlation between the popularity of your FAQ
and the amount of time you have left for other things. However, a bit of
organisation will help... the most time consuming aspect of the FAQ is its
administration, compiling and posting it so a few useful tools are essential.
I personally was somewhat surprised by the bureaucratic approach to some of
the issues associated with posting FAQs.
Offsetting any downside is the network of contacts that you will make as a
result.
Robert && Rachel
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