Re: Release notes and wgo revamp

[Joachim <joachim gnome googlemail com>]

On 2/4/07, Claus Schwarm <c schwarm gmx net> wrote:

On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 12:43:25 +0000
Joachim <joachim gnome googlemail com> wrote:

>
> There are no writers to create the content.

There is content at the current WGO. In fact, lots of content. That
was the point of my initial mail.

There's a fair amount we could recycle.
It's possible that making it fit our new plan will be more work than starting from scratch -- we'll have to see when we get started.
(Maybe I missed it, but are we going to get started at some point? When will the site be moved to the gnome server?)

> There is no indication that waiting 6 months will produce writers. If
> anything, more delays may put people off.

Yes, you might be right. On the other hand, people complain about
the state of WGO for years: Did the incomplete and partially wrong
content on WGO produce many writers during the last years?

Nope, because the system was arcane and incomprehensible.
The CVS module names alone stinks of bad planning!

Nothing will increase the number of writers for sure. One can only
work with what one has.

Waiting six months means Quim and the other existing volunteers can
write the content they wanted from the start.

It also means that there's another 6 months before writers get to actually see themselves in print and feel they've accomplished something. Don't underestimate this aspect of motivation. This project has been going for over 6 months already.

> Granted a move right now might make things worse.
> But we need to ask: why can a project like Gnome not attract (and
> *retain*) writers?
>

I think the correct answer is bike shed effect [1] but a discussion
about the reasons is probably off-topic.

That looks like one possible answer.
A discussion about the reasons might be off-topic for *this thread* but it is totally on-topic for this list. I'd say it's crucial to what we're trying to do here.