Re: Documentation bugs

[Andrew Sobala <aes gnome org>]

On Tue, 2003-02-18 at 10:26, Pat Costello wrote:
> On Feb 14 Andrew Sobala opined: 
> 
> > Also, a doc bug is by definition "sev=Minor,pri=Normal" at best. It
> > normally doesn't affect the software enough to be triaged above that.
> > This means busy maintainers won't see them for a bit, since they may
> > only be looking at sev=Normal/Major, or pri=High bugs.
> > 
> 
> A doc bug is by definition sev=Minor? pri=Normal? At best? 
> 
> Well, maybe I should tell you about the time a colleague of mine who wrote 
> manuals for the aerospace industry wasn't told by the engineers when they 
> decided to change the polarity of a cabin toggle switch at the last minute. Some 
> scary nosedives later, the engineers decided to ask the writers first, before 
> they made the slightest engineering changes. 
> 
> Or another colleague who wrote manuals for a new class of submarine in a Certain 
> Large Navy. Very secret. Lots of funding, no expense spared. Please use lots of 
> striking colors for the important bits. In due course, the submarines put to sea 
> for sea trials. They turned off the generator lights, turned on the battery 
> lights. And they couldn't read the important bits in the manuals. The writer had 
> marked up important sections for the printer to highlight. The printer had 
> highlighted the important sections in a color that was exactly the same 
> wavelength as the underwater battery lights on the submarine. So the 
> instructions became invisible. Now, there is a school of thought that says who 
> needs instructions anyway (cry: EMACS!), but the Certain Large Navy didn't think 
> so. 
> 
> God Bless a Certain Large Country. 
> 
> Pat
> 
> P.S. Oh, by the way, please let's keep the "doc" bugs with the applications, 
> applets, and UI functionality. 

Pat, the severity is normally minor because the application _works._ No
offence intended to the (superb) doc team.

Anyway, consider this proposal dead since no-one seems to like it and
everyone thinks I'm on crack :-)

-- 
Andrew Sobala <aes gnome org>