discuss: Proposed Review HOWTO (full text)
Subject:
Re: Proposed Review HOWTO (full text)
From:
Stein Gjoen ####@####.####
Date:
3 Mar 2005 23:23:11 -0000
Message-Id: <42279D85.8030506@mail.nyx.net>
Randy Kramer wrote:
> The one comment I'd like to make is this: Sometimes I'm interested enough in
> a given document and its correctness to go through the process of writing to
> the author, then following up to the LDP discuss list some weeks later if I
> don't hear from the author, but more often, I find an error and ideally, I'd
> like to fix it immediately (the wiki approach, which has been discussed on
> this list and is not a highly favored solution), or do something else that
> requires only my one time involvement. Two approaches (besides a wiki) that
> I can think of:
I wanted to learn more about the wiki approach and particularly the
culture therein so the last few weeks I have been somewhat involved
in Wikipedia to see what it involves.
My own experience is somewhat negative: there is a lot of good work
but a lot of gonzo editing, deletionists who slap on a VfD (vote for
deletion) quite simply because they failed to understand the issues,
a process that is fairly broken (tags are misinterpreted and tag
removals are not handled properly) and strange attitudes to what a
balanced view is (to make up an example: an article about the size
of Earth would have to mention the flat earth theory for balance).
Wikipedia would work well if someone could baseline articles but that
process is not even defined yet.
Random acts of vandalism is common but with some efforts also
somewhat under control
The way things stand now I cannot reccomend an open wiki for TLDP.
> * Write to the author and the LDP discuss list (or maybe some other, new
> (?), semi-private list) and look to the LDP to do the followup if the author
> doesn't respond in a "timely" manner. (A problem with this approach,
> especially if a semi-private mail list but even with a public list will be
> duplicate reports of the same error, partly due to the typical difficulties
> (IMHO) of searching mail list archives.
I would like comments saved somewhere but also to keep traffic
on this mailing list under control
> * Have a bugzilla (bug reporting system)--ideally one for each document, or
> one that can clearly and easily isolate and search reports by document.
> (Last time I tried the KDE bugzilla I was overwhelmed because (iirc), it
> combined bug reports for all their products.
A bug reporting system is what I would prefer and I have made a
mock-up of a bug ticketing system for documents. It was mentioned
earlier here but little comments have appeared so far.
> Anyway, again, kudos for the short reviewers guide--I'm just trying to point
> out what would motivate me to report errors--the easier it is for me, and the
> more likely I think it is that my reports will be properly considered and
> acted upon, the more likely I am to make them.
Indeed. That is why I feel a tracking system would benefit both
the reviewer and the authors, especially if a new author takes
over an existing document and want to see the list of comments
received so far. Also it is simpler for TLDP to keep track of how
timely updates are made.
Regards,
Stein Gjoen
