From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Miles Bader" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Emacs Manual topics to remove? Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 18:32:18 +0900 Message-ID: References: <87d5grwgtc.fsf@stupidchicken.com> <17428.40887.187946.405406@kahikatea.snap.net.nz> <87veuji44y.fsf@stupidchicken.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1142242368 20670 80.91.229.2 (13 Mar 2006 09:32:48 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 09:32:48 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Nick Roberts , rms@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Mar 13 10:32:45 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FIjPp-0008DF-6n for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 13 Mar 2006 10:32:37 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FIjPo-0006hY-GT for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:32:36 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FIjPb-0006h6-Vv for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:32:24 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FIjPZ-0006g4-T6 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:32:22 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FIjPZ-0006g1-Iu for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:32:21 -0500 Original-Received: from [64.233.162.196] (helo=zproxy.gmail.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1FIjTV-0005Qa-R5 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:36:25 -0500 Original-Received: by zproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id z3so1170661nzf for ; Mon, 13 Mar 2006 01:32:20 -0800 (PST) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:sender:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=eDOKWK4oRO/RGNCEGMKob4ajzERw/WS8v0DsZQoReW39zzLdWSYqbA3HXs9LXWEOQzuFPxOCp08pa/PPU1Sz7C0Jz2BFpHoEPQgqvQyxQtiIAJGb/sZaTVFTfqbREBhcXipQLu0wSpb2i2QpWKzg9J6r4Xikbcs7uSYQ84yysh8= Original-Received: by 10.36.61.12 with SMTP id j12mr3151074nza; Mon, 13 Mar 2006 01:32:18 -0800 (PST) Original-Received: by 10.36.220.66 with HTTP; Mon, 13 Mar 2006 01:32:18 -0800 (PST) Original-To: "Chong Yidong" In-Reply-To: <87veuji44y.fsf@stupidchicken.com> Content-Disposition: inline X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:51546 Archived-At: On 3/13/06, Chong Yidong wrote: > > I think it could cause resentment to suggest removing chapters that oth= ers > > have contributed. I wonder if it's possible to count page hits on the = online > > version at www.gnu.org and generally remove those chapters that receive= the > > least hits? > > Well, they are only being moved to emacs-xtras, not deleted. In any case, it seems silly to avoid doing necessary pruning because of some vague fear of offending somebody. Pretty much _everything_ in Emacs is a contribution, so one simply can't think this way. Not that it's an easy decision -- a great deal of what exists in emacs is "marginal" in some sense (is only used by a relatively small percentage of users). It does seem that it would be courteous to bring the authors of the text into the discussion; maybe they could suggest alternatives such as abridgement? Anyway, some possibilities for deletion that come to mind: + Nroff mode [obscure language these days, and not very useful content] + Asm Mode [fairly useless -- doesn't say much you wouldn't get from just using the mode] + Table mode; I'm not sure about this one -- it could be very popular, I suppose, but it _is_ quite large. Maybe there could be a shortened version in the printed manual (similar to the way that Gnus has a short intro in the Emacs, manual, which links to the huge standalone Gnus manual)? Personally I think "Nroff Mode" and "Asm Mode" could just be deleted entirely, there seems not much point to them, even in emacs-xtra. -Miles -- Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.