From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Alex Schroeder Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Procedure for changing the FAQ Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 00:31:22 +0200 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <877k9kn8w5.fsf@gnu.org> References: <7680-Wed23Apr2003121503+0300-eliz@elta.co.il> <200304231311.h3NDBAs4012370@rum.cs.yale.edu> <9743-Wed23Apr2003230222+0300-eliz@elta.co.il> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1051137144 13220 80.91.224.249 (23 Apr 2003 22:32:24 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 22:32:24 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Thu Apr 24 00:32:18 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 198SmF-0003Ox-00 for ; Thu, 24 Apr 2003 00:31:43 +0200 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 198SsB-000135-00 for ; Thu, 24 Apr 2003 00:37:52 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 198Sn1-0007ow-01 for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Wed, 23 Apr 2003 18:32:31 -0400 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.10.13) id 198SmY-0007Pw-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 23 Apr 2003 18:32:02 -0400 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.10.13) id 198SmI-0006Xh-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 23 Apr 2003 18:31:50 -0400 Original-Received: from isp247n.hispeed.ch ([62.2.95.247] helo=smtp.hispeed.ch) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 198Sm4-0005xF-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 23 Apr 2003 18:31:32 -0400 Original-Received: from confusibombus.gnu.org (dclient217-162-234-20.hispeed.ch [217.162.234.20])h3NMVLCd029591; Thu, 24 Apr 2003 00:31:22 +0200 Original-To: Eli Zaretskii Face: iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAADAAAAAwCAYAAABXAvmHAAACkElEQVR42s1a0bLsIAgzjv// y7kPd9pVKxKVdk6fzux2C4EAwR6QZBpcQEopIf3Fq3a52Lfh0Mjjk99zcWYBwA2ihEen9jVxfAf/ u0+Y2HQwNoVw4Dx34trRV6NSjiLPmfPt77jwiBxB/3PnZ3B2AGxzHnGu0wcBwAIAyQwZGvQhiFcy YLOFQcSB/MS82n3ec37vykNqRFTX9rVWR2U5+pZNIggll0CUOQN9BDdm1LfBmcZxIEqjL6r2JU/D galaB7Zg4jlY2ulnIx9OR4iMRl38CAFyKaA8jAxE7lNn650VKMULZ/54crqn0YQCJGQliebXkFIK hwqmGm28cgsSjz/hzRCMneQEwMjVoH3gWTtMPgIslJUV5uIluvUEkyzU+gUGQO62e9NuSdZCzNOM fDPC87iCqfE9gHinsIrSL16TPBfrYIeHzqKU90a50jCh54EcrgAUFo5ibzvebgr/I66USQ0CspQp IVSoBQK3WswDDIndIraHxoglqOjM1d044PQvu1NY0EHtqQR/XwJ+PeCs0x2dSlApZVw4MPER23PD 7JekoHxrqTRod/2Gx5nhx5dfAJhqPt7tDMIZxNN/7lOIaparPn7ZQ88drlORC2eLWXowxIq4gHTh VN1BSmsHoxYAbPWDTuGQuuecS+aYQUYpfr0YqPQOuuUk5tApK077+2xfOYP+XyWEIwPcE49lvT9N y2+wU2KylGGp4yxlALcm6fSlmgk62yfSsfNunDl5d6W91MBUoZw679YAJoMMkhijuXdFOL+khaL2 s+g3zy4APQuQvSc/BNAYnkl6E8ivYtEHJXa1dihE3zgnKMdNgN8DiIwgA17NykUMvFDQ+LALvXXI BuBLAHv/DvBmc/0HzR03PqXmLcQAAAAASUVORK5CYII= In-Reply-To: <9743-Wed23Apr2003230222+0300-eliz@elta.co.il> (Eli Zaretskii's message of "Wed, 23 Apr 2003 23:02:23 +0300") User-Agent: Gnus/5.090018 (Oort Gnus v0.18) Emacs/21.3.50 (gnu/linux) Original-cc: ich@Frank-Schmitt.net X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1b5 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Archive: List-Unsubscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:13407 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:13407 "Eli Zaretskii" writes: > Yes, I know many computer users are used to look in the FAQ before > they look in the manual, but I think we should convince Emacs users > that's not the right way of looking something up in the docs. I used to (silently) disagree with Eli on this one, but these days I agree. If people have questions they need answers to, and they can't find it in the manual, then the manual needs to be changed. Maybe new text needs to be written, or maybe new features need to be added. The index search is a prime example. It is very powerful, and I only learnt about it years after starting to use Emacs. The glossary is another example, if I remember correctly it was added because people using Microsoft terms were unable to find the correct information in the manual. Perhaps we need "dedicated" pages in the manual. Mail setup. Indentation. Just to name the two most commonly asked questions on #emacs. :) The wiki tries to do this kind of thing, of course, but by its very nature the pages have varying levels of quality, and include personal assessments of various solutions. This is a good thing, and a new thing that was not possible before, but it also means that you cannot just take text from the wiki and incorporate it into the manual. Perhaps the wiki is an interesting collection of loosely organized information so that we could pack it into a texinfo file and distribute it the same way we used to distribute the manuals in the old days... That might be an interesting alternative. The wiki is licensed under the FDL, but no copyright assignments were required of contributors. There used to be a script that translated the entire site to a texinfo file, but it needs updating. Bitrot. :) Alex.