[Zope3-dev] Documentation: Where do we go from here?

[Gary Poster]

I have a few thoughts about what's been said so far.  But for my first one,
let me be...um...practical/capitalistic/selfish.  I hope I come off as
blunt, not trollish.

We need to talk about the actors who will use Zope, use docs, etc.  But also
if ZC is building a community for any given project, like the one Paul
proposed, we (I?) need to be honest and look at what the community
contributor "actors" want out of the project.  The Zope list thread of "why
do the community projects always seem to falter" or some such went down this
road a bit.  Since I can only speak for one community member, myself, here
goes.

I help out with Zope because
 (1) I use it, appreciate it, and want to give back and
 (2) working on it increases my knowledge of it; and thus, thanks to the
wonders of the Zope and Python engineers, increases my knowledge of good
design and best practices; which enhances my skills; and thus, presumably,
increases my cash flow/opportunities.

#1 is true; I do work out of a sense of gratitude and community excitement.

#2 is also very true.  Money and self-interest.  And if I don't have much #2
(enlightened self-interest) going on for a given project, my interest and
energy will die quickly.  There it is.  Human nature.

So, while I strongly encourage the formation of a project such as the one
Paul proposes, if it relies merely on the milk of human kindness for
nourishment, it's not going to grow very old, IMH and slightly cynical O.

Practically, what do I suggest we do about this?

1) All of us not employed by ZC think about what we want out of this and
throw it around a bit on a list (is the Zope 3 list appropriate?
suggestions?  we have enough low-traffic Zope lists out there that maybe we
could hijack one and reduce the bandwidth here ;-)
2) ZC folks think about what, if any, other carrots they can throw into the
pot (recognition?  silly hats? official ZC publishing deals for Zope books
comprised of the best community chapters?  the more resume-friendly the
carrot is, the better, although I must admit I always appreciate a bit of
silliness as well) and see what the community thinks of the ideas.
3) We finally assemble a project that *first* scratches our (community
contributors) own itches enough that we are interested in sticking with it a
while, *second* has clearly "advertisable" methods of encouraging others to
scratch their own itches by also participating in the project, and *third*
addresses the actual project goals.

Yup, IMH and slightly cynical O, that would be third.

Again, the "advertisable" methods don't necessarily need to be anything
except enlightened self interest, but maybe there can be more.

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In other news, I think Zope3 is ready for some tech docs, as David
mentioned, and that's the kind of stuff I'm interested in working on
(because I generally edit absent-mindedly when I read anyway; moreover, if I
organize something better I find I understand it better).

OK, enough for now.

Gary, aka parenthetical man