[Rhodes22-list] FAQ

Mark Kaynor mark@kaynor.org
Wed, 20 Nov 2002 15:28:39 -0500


I'd like to add my two cents to this. One of the things my firm does is
develop self-help collaborative Web-based workspaces. These spaces allow
people from anywhere in the world to effectively contribute to and
participate in a project.

It's been my experience as a senior technical lead on several of these
projects that a layered contributor / editor / superuser model, similar to
the one Michael describes, works very well. It allows the contributors to
have a sense of ownership that's missing from a more "top down" approach.
The amount of work contributors can do to alleviate some of the load on the
editors can be amazing. This frees up the editors to spend more time making
the kind of decisions they need to to maintain the desired level of quality
and continuity within the project.

I need to look at what the software Michael has provided can do, but I would
assume there is some sort of voting / jurying tool that can be applied to
each potential entry. Anyone can submit , any of us who are interested can
read, judge the worth of, and rate any given article, the editors can then
review the results, make sure accepted articles are factually /
grammatically correct, and post it in their areas.

It works for me.

And, Tom - thanks so much for doing all the work you've been doing on the
FAQ - it has proven to be a valuable resource for me and from the reactions
I'm seeing, to everyone else on this list, as well. It seems to me that this
is an excellent opportunity to move the FAQ to the next level - to move
beyond the current, flat, fairly static model and provide our community with
an even more useful, searchable tool.

Mark Kaynor

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Meltzer" <mjm@michaelmeltzer.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 1:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] FAQ


> It can be any thing we want :-)
>
> The base system is a "tree" system, where each section(i.e. achors, anchor
rodess, under seat storage) is owned by a person and/or a
> group of people(password potectied), each section can have subsections
and/or contain blocks of text.. people can update, add,delete
> and can update sections/blocks of text. That's relly all it is. The tick
is how access control is applied based on the password,
> Thier is a full RCS system that handle people working on the same area at
the same time.. Thier is no reson tom can not be in charge
> of it.
>
> think in term of access rights:(this is only an example, it change be
changed)
> everyone can appended blocks of text and can change the text they added.
> moderators can add/delete/update text blocks, crate new sections, move
section around(for area they control)
> supper moderatorsd can cross moderators bonderers,
grant/revocate/reassigned modertors, plue althe reguaare moderator stuff
>
>  Norw could we kill the everyone option, sure. could we make all
moderators, suppermoderators, sure, could we put all files in the
> same moderator group, sure.
> Like I said, the whole thing is how you grant the access rights.
>
> Tom, I do under stand how much work it takes, Just trying to be helpful,
but it will be your call and the groups what is going to
> happen here.
>
>
> MJM
>
>
> PS.
> Here is the FAQ for the system. Please Read it, might answer some of the
questions and fears. it doese a better jobs then I can do
> http://faqomatic.sourceforge.net/fom-serve/cache/2.html
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rik Sandberg" <racerrik@rea-alp.com>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 1:22 PM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] FAQ
>
>
> > Tom, Bill, Michael, All,
> >
> > This leaves me with the question; is it possible to incorporate the
features
> > of the new program into the old FAQ site?????
> >
> > I certainly have no problem with Tom continuing to administer the FAQ.
He
> > has done an excellent job, in my mind, of both building and maintaining
it.
> > Yes, we haven't heard much from him lately, but we have to expect that a
> > guy's going to get swamped once in a while and not have time for all
this
> > leisure stuff. It happens to me, I'm sure it happens to all of us at one
> > time or another. So, Tom I hope you don't feel bad about that, or think
> > that's the reason for our talking about this change.
> >
> > I believe that the change is being considered because we all understand
that
> > this is a lot of work and it may be a stretch to expect one person to be
> > able to continue to do it all indefinitely.
> >
> > I do still have reservations concerning our allowing any and all members
of
> > the list to post entries to our FAQ. I agree that it would be a good
thing
> > if more than one person, or a committee of people, had access to it. The
> > work of administering, editing, etc. should be spread out amongst the
> > members of the group who are best able to help.
> >
> > Michael, I believe this is a question only you can answer. What are the
> > possibilities here?
> >
> > Rik
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Bill Effros" <bill@effros.com>
> > To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 11:37 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] FAQ
> >
> >
> > > A little more background:
> > >
> > > We discussed FAQ endlessly before Tom joined the list, and got almost
> > > nowhere with it.  Then one day Tom simply grabbed the bull by the
horns
> > and
> > > did it all himself.  It was an incredible piece of work, and neither
the
> > > people on the list before he arrived nor the people who have joined
after
> > he
> > > compiled the FAQ can possibly thank him enough.
> > >
> > > Anyone who has contemplated this project understands how much work is
> > > involved.  That's why we have all been so happy to say "Let Tom do
it!"
> > >
> > > I think Michael, who has tried time and again to come up with
methodology
> > > for sharing the FAQ burden, has found some interesting software that
will
> > > take the entire responsibility off one person's shoulders and
distribute
> > it
> > > a little more evenly, for the benefit of the list and everyone on it.
> > >
> > > I would be happy to help, and I've saved a lot of stuff.  I know many
> > others
> > > are in the same ... boat.
> > >
> > > There is no question in my mind that Tom has functioned very well as
the
> > top
> > > level administrator, and that if he is willing to continue in that
> > function
> > > there couldn't be a better person.
> > >
> > > Others can slot in behind him.
> > >
> > > Who "owns" the FAQ, and who hosts it are of little concern to me as
long
> > as
> > > it is always available to everyone.  If the person who has done the
> > > overwhelming majority of the work derives some sort of benefit beyond
the
> > > satisfaction of the accomplishment,I, for one, have no problem with
that.
> > >
> > > Bill Effros
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: <LogicUnltd@aol.com>
> > > To: <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
> > > Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 11:32 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] FAQ
> > >
> > >
> > > Hello Everyone.
> > >
> > > Well, I guess I need to jump in and shoot my mouth off.
> > >
> > > For those that may not be aware of how the "old" FAQ pages came about,
> > > please
> > > allow me to provide a brief history. 2+ years ago I began on the
> > > Rhodes-list,
> > > I enjoyed reading all the emails and I collected several because they
were
> > > topics I was particularly interested in. There was a thread about
starting
> > a
> > > FAQ site. I really wasn't aware of all the prior discussion; I was
> > > interested
> > > in web development, so I just jumped in. Put together a few ideas and
> > edited
> > > my collected emails into several FAQ topics. I then solicited the list
for
> > > people to send their collected emails, only a couple of people
responded
> > > most
> > > notably - Doug. He did a lot of work organizing emails. See the proble
m
> > is,
> > > people tend to ignore the subject line when they change topics. So
someone
> > > needs to cull through the emails to group them into topics. Doug did a
> > great
> > > job.
> > >
> > > After the first few months, I gave up soliciting for questions and/or
> > > answers. So I set upon the task by myself of collecting emails by
topic
> > and
> > > periodically formatting them into an html page and posting them. After
a
> > > couple of years my "excitement" for the task has faded a bit.
Recently, 2
> > > events have overwhelmed me and I frankly haven't done much. First,
I've
> > > gotten very busy at work, really too busy, but that should be changing
in
> > a
> > > few weeks (normal business cycle). Second, I believe there has been an
> > > explosion of off topic emails on the list. If I don't check my mailbox
> > > regularly there are hundreds of emails, with all sorts of stuff. Which
is
> > > great socially, but just for piece of mind and saving time I sometimes
> > just
> > > delete without really reading and deciding if this could, maybe,
hopefully
> > > be
> > > something for the FAQ site.
> > >
> > > As for MJM remarks about my not responding to his back channel emails
> > about
> > > the FAQ site. Yes, I ignored him. I was reluctant to give up something
> > that
> > > I
> > > had worked many hours on and the second reason is a bit hard to
explain.
> > My
> > > company blocks access to sites it deems non-business, but it doesn't
block
> > > sites hosted by yahoo (I really don't know why) So I can get to the
"OLD"
> > > site from my work but I can not access www.rhodes22.org from work. So
> > again
> > > I
> > > was reluctant to give up access. I actually do look at stuff all the
time
> > on
> > > the "OLD" site. Yeah I can do it from home. So I probably need to just
> > > relax.
> > > Another reason for not wanting to give up the site was that I simply
> > enjoyed
> > > working on it and felt that I was contributing to the group. I don't
feel
> > I
> > > have much in the way of sailing expertise to offer so I was offering
what
> > I
> > > could which was my web skills.
> > >
> > > Anyway, what's my bottom line on the "NEW" FAQ page? I can see the
great
> > > potential in it. It would be great if everyone participated and worked
at
> > > contributing by offering thoughtful questions and/or answers. I
challenge
> > > everyone to do that. I hope we can realize that potential. I do think
> > > someone
> > > has to edit for content and appropriateness for the topic so I have my
> > > doubts
> > > about "self-managing".
> > >
> > > I look at other sailing groups web sites, I'm sure you all have, I
believe
> > > all the other site's FAQ have been administrated by a single person.
> > Almost
> > > all of them have pictures included within the text. So we can be the
first
> > > to
> > > be "interactive" and self-administered. It will only succeed, if we
all
> > make
> > > an effort to contribute. I will do what I can.
> > >
> > > I will still keep my "old" site, which I will update, I guess, for my
> > > personal needs but everyone is always welcome.
> > >
> > > Thank you for listening and visiting the site in the past.
> > >
> > > I need a beer
> > >
> > > Best Regards
> > >
> > > Tom Evans
> > > S/V Tom's Foolery
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________
> > > Use Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________
> > > Use Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> > >
> >
> > _________________________________________________
> > Use Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>
> _________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list