discuss: Al Devs HOWTOs (was Re: Is PHP-HOWTO some kind of joke ?)
Subject:
Re: Al Devs HOWTOs (was Re: Is PHP-HOWTO some kind of joke ?)
From:
Howard Shane ####@####.####
Date:
12 Nov 2003 02:19:54 -0000
Message-Id: <3FB198CC.7020207@austin.rr.com>
David Lawyer wrote:
> Well, he has seriously hurt the LDP with his junk,
So, who has the ultimate responsibility for the act of publication of a
sub-standard document by TLDP? And let's be careful, the above statement
is almost libel in its recklessness. It's got to be hard to quantify how
much the LDP has been harmed. Do you mean economic? Or something harder
to measure like reputation?
> I once searched for his
> posts to newsgroups. He claimed that a bomb exists the size of a
> quarter that can destroy the entire world and then went on to explain
> who developed it and how it works (sort of).
C'mon now. You know as well as I do that anyone can post anything to a
newsgroup and pretend to be anyone. Plus I'm sure there's more than one
Al Dev in the world. I don't think this information is anything but
inflammatory in nature and is irrelevant to the current discussion.
> I say it's garbage and now think that all Al Dev's HOWTOs need to be
> removed except for cases where he took over someone else's HOWTO.
I'm not sure about the other readers out there, but it makes me uneasy
when documents cease to be evaluated on the basis of their merits and
are instead judged by only the <author> tag.
> Still, I think, these HOWTOs should remain in an online "Rejects"
> directory.
I don't think that's a constructive idea at all. It will discourage
participation if people are afraid that their handiwork will end up in
the "rejects" pile for all to see.
I read journal articles in my 'real' job every day that have gone
through extensive peer review and revision prior to publication. I have
tried to follow this in my HOWTO writing, and have posted my drafts for
review and feedback prior to publication on the relevant mailing lists,
and on a couple of occasions have solicited help directly from
developers. Perhaps something like this should be a prerequisite to
final publication, if qualified reviewers are not available.
I don't really know Al or his abilities, but looking at his website he
seems like he is certainly full of enthusiasm for Linux. One of the
problems with open-source and Linux in particular is that we practice
infanticide when we're not crucifying certain of our leaders. The
enthusiasm needs to be fostered, not snuffed. And certainly not
character assasination, David.
The ultimate responsibility for publication, and hence the quality of
the documents, should rest with TLDP, not Al Dev. If a submitted draft
is substandard, then the project decision-makers have only themselves to
blame for not discarding them, or perhaps encouraging the author to
refine or research their chosen topic.
hs
