Why documentation is the way it is

[stefan.paetow at diamond.ac.uk]

>   Yes.  The Wiki exists for a purpose.  EDIT IT!  Why the heck are they
> updating their pages, that no one else will ever be able to find?

As someone who has a set of instructions like this, it sometimes is an effort to:

a) document SOMETHING that works (or describes specific quirks for some local specifics)
b) save others in the same organisation the effort of going through what they've gone though
c) limit the audience to specific people

For c) one would expect to at least apply some set of permissions (i.e. visible only if logged into the Wiki), but not everyone is as particular about that as others are.

In my case specifically, because my work was EU-funded, I've had to have some sort of deliverable (and it had to be sharable with partners elsewhere), and since I had to start from a blank slate, it's easier to write things down. Not saying that EVERYONE must do that, but it's useful. :-)

> > 2) post after a long thread with 'I've now got it working' - but
> > actually dont post any further details or feedback

Yes... although there's also the fear of "this is how I did it" and then getting flamed with "WTF did you do it that way??"

This may not be applicable to this list, but unfortunately, human nature tends to veer towards "If one mailing list is that way, then I'll treat most other lists with the same caution, JIC" (case in point, some recent threads that involved some stroppy comments).

Now, as for editing the Wiki, you may wish to extend Omnigollum beyond just GitHub and OpenId (who uses OpenId?) to make it easier to log in... not everyone has a Github or OpenId account (I didn't have either for quite a while).

That said though, the FR documentation is better than some other efforts I've had the misfor^H^H^H^H^H^Hpleasure to work with in the past ;-)

Stefan

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