[Zope3-dev] Gary wrote:

[Anders Schneiderman]

Gary wrote:
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I have a few thoughts about what's been said so far.  But for=20
my first one,let me be...um...practical/capitalistic/selfish.  I=20
hope I come off as blunt, not trollish.

We need to talk about the actors who will use Zope, use docs,=20
etc.  But also if ZC is building a community for any given project,=20
like the one Paul proposed, we (I?) need to be honest and look=20
at what the community contributor "actors" want out of the=20
project. =20
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Gary,

I'm really glad you raised this issue, since it's going to be=20
trickier for documentation than it is for code.  One reason why
many open source projects have shitty documentation is
that coders don't get their jollies from writing it.  Also,
this isn't selfish, this is Sociology/Anthropology 101.
All communities that work have interests that bind
the actors together, both financial and social.
When trying to build a community/sub-community,
it's an issue we've got to think through.

Two thoughts:

First, one way to help with this problem is to set it
up so that much of the documentation can be written
or edited in increments & still be useful.  If doc
isn't as fun for most folks to write as code,
make it easier to do some work when people=20
have time, in between the other gazillion
things they have to do.  I suspect that for=20
some people who want to play, this might=20
even increase their participation, since
once they've put a bit of stuff, their
perfectionist streak/inner editor will
demand that they go back and just
do a _little_ more to fix it up.=20

Second, since you've put out where you're coming
from, let me put out my interests:

1)  I love to code but I can't do a lot anymore.
Wrestling through complex problems involved
in writing really good, clear documentation gives
me some of the buzz I used to get from coding.

2)  Writing doc is a great way for someone=20
who either physically can't write code or doesn't
have the skill/confidence to write Z3 code to=20
still play.  If I'm writing doc, not only am I=20
contributing, but I also have standing to=20
weigh in on certain decisions, kvetch, etc.

3)  The biggest reason:
I hate, hate, hate ColdFusion.  I can
stand PhP, but I don't enjoy working w/ it.
So far, Zope is the only system I've recently
seen that has the potential to be both
powerful and elegant.  If I can help Zope3
succeed by making it easier for newbies to
understand, maybe I can put a few nails
in the coffin of ColdFusion & create a=20
world where the contractors and staff
I work with get to work with really cool
tools.  This may be delusional, but
then again people thought an open
source operating system was too.

Thanks,
Anders