[wp-docs] New volunteer

[Matt Mullenweg]

lorelle at cameraontheroad.com wrote:
> 1. I was told a request was made to you a long time ago about changing 
> the CSS for <code> to have no blue background.  Nothing happened. I was 
> told that the decision was to change the <code> to <tt> in order to 
> remove the blue background when using code within a paragraph. This 
> could, at any time, be easily replaced with a SQL update if the decision 
> needed to be changed.

What's the matter with the blue background? <code> is a more semantic 
tag than <tt> if it is used for code and should be used, if <code> is 
poetry at least. ;)

> 2. We found MANY instances of bad "code" layouts. People combining 
> <pre><code></pre></code> or just using <pre> and <code> together, so 
> assigning this simple task not only helped volunteers clean up the usage 
> of <code> it also helped to clean up irregular use of tags and code 
> structures in general. This helps to create a very solid and consistent 
> structure for usage, and cleans up the MANY validation errors found 
> throughout the Codex.

<pre><code> is perfectly valid for blocks of code.

> 3. Most importantly, this was a minor task that invited beginners to 
> "get into the Codex". A lot of the complaints we had were that the 
> interface was scary, changing the wording was nervy, and "intimidation". 
> By giving volunteers simple, easy to do but specific tasks, they could 
> get over their fears slowly, learn how this all works, build up their 
> confidence, and basically get "hooked". As Carthik has been often known 
> to tell new volunteers on the Codex, once you get started, it becomes an 
> addicition. We needed to find some hooks to generate that addicition. ;-)

I think that's great to have easy tasks like this, but I think in this 
particular instance the task is harmful.

-- 
Matt Mullenweg
http://photomatt.net  | http://wordpress.org
http://pingomatic.com | http://cnet.com