Welcome, Valerie Lynn, glad to know you've been lurking. <br><br>If there is anything we can help you with or direct you down a particular path, don't be afraid to ask. We're a friendly bunch here. <br><br>Please take time to look over <a href="http://wpdocsteam.wordpress.com/">http://wpdocsteam.wordpress.com/</a> and the list of helpful information in the sidebar on how to edit the Codex. We've a list of things to do there, too. <br>
<br>Welcome and thanks for chiming in.<br><br>Lorelle<br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 8:53 AM, Valerie Lynn <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:val.lynn@gmail.com" target="_blank">val.lynn@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I just want to chime in with, "I'm following and listening to the discussion." <div><br></div><div>I'm too new to editing to have an opinion but wanted to raise my hand and say, "I'm here."<br clear="all">
<div><br></div>Valerie Lynn<div><div>Email: <a href="mailto:val.lynn@gmail.com" target="_blank">val.lynn@gmail.com</a></div></div><div>GooglePlus: <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/104997630384054362441/" target="_blank">https://plus.google.com/u/0/104997630384054362441/</a></div>
<br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 11:28 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:wp-docs-request@lists.automattic.com" target="_blank">wp-docs-request@lists.automattic.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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Today's Topics:<br>
<br>
1. Joining Forces: Support (Jane Wells)<br>
2. Re: [wp-forums] Joining Forces: Support (esmi at quirm dot net)<br>
3. Re: Joining Forces: Support (Chip Bennett)<br>
4. Re: Joining Forces: Support (Andrea Rennick)<br>
<br>
<br>
----------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
Message: 1<br>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 08:09:05 -0400<br>
From: Jane Wells <<a href="mailto:jane@automattic.com" target="_blank">jane@automattic.com</a>><br>
Subject: [wp-docs] Joining Forces: Support<br>
To: <a href="mailto:wp-docs@lists.automattic.com" target="_blank">wp-docs@lists.automattic.com</a>, <a href="mailto:wp-forums@lists.automattic.com" target="_blank">wp-forums@lists.automattic.com</a><br>
Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:4FB24761.30403@automattic.com" target="_blank">4FB24761.30403@automattic.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed<br>
<br>
Hi everyone. The results of the recent surveys to identify active<br>
contributors and elect team reps made it pretty clear that the docs team<br>
is in a bit of a slump, organizationally speaking. Only 5 people from<br>
the wp-docs post responded, and of those, 2 were new or not yet<br>
contributing, and there was no consensus re reps among the remaining 3<br>
respondents. It got me thinking about how we organize contributors, what<br>
has worked well elsewhere in the WP ecosystem and in other free software<br>
projects, and leads me to this proposal: what if we combined forums and<br>
docs into one Support team?<br>
<br>
Looking back at the Codex activity from the past six months or year,<br>
chunks of it have been tied to forum mods (like Ipstenu and Andrea_r),<br>
other contributor groups (like Chip on the Theme Review Team), and new<br>
releases. Not that how Automattic/WordPress.com organizes itself should<br>
decide anything, but their support team manages forums, email support,<br>
and docs, and it seems to work pretty well. They have a schedule for<br>
reviewing existing documentation so it never gets too far out of date,<br>
and the people on the front lines with users in the forums and via email<br>
can see very clearly where they need to beef up documentation. I'm<br>
thinking this could work well for .org, too. Those who are strong<br>
writers and just want to contribute to documentation could still do so,<br>
but within a context of what our user support needs are at any given<br>
time based on the actual support requests.<br>
<br>
What I'm envisioning is less siloing of contributor personnel, with one<br>
group blog at <a href="http://make.wordpress.org/support" target="_blank">make.wordpress.org/support</a> that uses tags like forums and<br>
codex to organize posts, and has pages to help orient new contributors<br>
and get them started. These mailing lists could fade away in favor of<br>
email subscriptions from the blog, which are more easily searchable and<br>
would be more visible to potential contributors. Within the uber-group,<br>
some people would naturally gravitate toward specific tasks while others<br>
would multi-task as they have been doing.<br>
<br>
Over time we could expand the purview of the group to include things<br>
like moderating instructional videos and comments at <a href="http://wordpress.tv" target="_blank">wordpress.tv</a> (and<br>
start embedding appropriate videos into codex), possibly helping to<br>
staff in-person help desks in local communities and/or at events like<br>
WordCamps and Meetups, etc. I think the prospects are pretty exciting,<br>
and I could see this becoming the biggest and most active of all the<br>
contributor groups, which would be awesome.<br>
<br>
If there are any strong objections to this approach, please reply to<br>
this thread today so we can discuss. If not, and everyone is willing to<br>
give this a shot and all work together (at least as an experiment for,<br>
say, the next release cycle or two), I'll go ahead and set up the group<br>
blog tomorrow.<br>
<br>
Jane<br>
<br>
<br>
------------------------------<br>
<br>
Message: 2<br>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 13:41:00 +0100<br>
From: esmi at quirm dot net <<a href="mailto:esmi@quirm.net" target="_blank">esmi@quirm.net</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [wp-docs] [wp-forums] Joining Forces: Support<br>
To: <a href="mailto:wp-forums@lists.automattic.com" target="_blank">wp-forums@lists.automattic.com</a><br>
Cc: <a href="mailto:wp-docs@lists.automattic.com" target="_blank">wp-docs@lists.automattic.com</a><br>
Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:4FB24EDC.8040104@quirm.net" target="_blank">4FB24EDC.8040104@quirm.net</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed<br>
<br>
on 15/05/2012 13:09 Jane Wells said the following:<br>
> what if we combined forums and<br>
> docs into one Support team?<br>
<br>
I can see the definite logic to this and I do like the idea of a Codex<br>
that is possibly more responsive to support (and, therefore, users')<br>
needs. My concern would be that, whilst there would more contributions<br>
and active editing, there might be less organisation. And a badly<br>
organised Codex is of no use to anyone.<br>
<br>
I do think that documentation generally needs at least 1 (preferably<br>
more than 1) person who can step back and take the objective overview -<br>
free from any concerns about directly answering users' questions.<br>
<br>
Does that make any sense?<br>
<br>
tl;dr Great idea but I'd like to see someone (perhaps another sub-rep?)<br>
take on the role of Codex organisation, looking after review schedules etc.<br>
<br>
Mel<br>
--<br>
<a href="http://quirm.net" target="_blank">http://quirm.net</a><br>
<a href="http://blackwidows.co.uk" target="_blank">http://blackwidows.co.uk</a><br>
<br>
<br>
------------------------------<br>
<br>
Message: 3<br>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 09:51:10 -0500<br>
From: Chip Bennett <<a href="mailto:chip@chipbennett.net" target="_blank">chip@chipbennett.net</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [wp-docs] Joining Forces: Support<br>
To: WordPress Documentation <<a href="mailto:wp-docs@lists.automattic.com" target="_blank">wp-docs@lists.automattic.com</a>><br>
Message-ID:<br>
<<a href="mailto:CAPdLKqe4F6fZCt2wpD9MNr_V003n18aQT3kTcgyYaQGEQ68iAw@mail.gmail.com" target="_blank">CAPdLKqe4F6fZCt2wpD9MNr_V003n18aQT3kTcgyYaQGEQ68iAw@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"<br>
<br>
Personally, I love the idea. Speaking as a contributor group member who<br>
tries to keep in the loop regarding support and/or Codex issues that impact<br>
our group (or issues where our contributor group can be helpful), such<br>
consolidation is welcome.<br>
<br>
Chip<br>
<br>
On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 7:09 AM, Jane Wells <<a href="mailto:jane@automattic.com" target="_blank">jane@automattic.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> Hi everyone. The results of the recent surveys to identify active<br>
> contributors and elect team reps made it pretty clear that the docs team is<br>
> in a bit of a slump, organizationally speaking. Only 5 people from the<br>
> wp-docs post responded, and of those, 2 were new or not yet contributing,<br>
> and there was no consensus re reps among the remaining 3 respondents. It<br>
> got me thinking about how we organize contributors, what has worked well<br>
> elsewhere in the WP ecosystem and in other free software projects, and<br>
> leads me to this proposal: what if we combined forums and docs into one<br>
> Support team?<br>
><br>
> Looking back at the Codex activity from the past six months or year,<br>
> chunks of it have been tied to forum mods (like Ipstenu and Andrea_r),<br>
> other contributor groups (like Chip on the Theme Review Team), and new<br>
> releases. Not that how Automattic/WordPress.com organizes itself should<br>
> decide anything, but their support team manages forums, email support, and<br>
> docs, and it seems to work pretty well. They have a schedule for reviewing<br>
> existing documentation so it never gets too far out of date, and the people<br>
> on the front lines with users in the forums and via email can see very<br>
> clearly where they need to beef up documentation. I'm thinking this could<br>
> work well for .org, too. Those who are strong writers and just want to<br>
> contribute to documentation could still do so, but within a context of what<br>
> our user support needs are at any given time based on the actual support<br>
> requests.<br>
><br>
> What I'm envisioning is less siloing of contributor personnel, with one<br>
> group blog at <a href="http://make.wordpress.org/support" target="_blank">make.wordpress.org/support</a> that uses tags like forums and<br>
> codex to organize posts, and has pages to help orient new contributors and<br>
> get them started. These mailing lists could fade away in favor of email<br>
> subscriptions from the blog, which are more easily searchable and would be<br>
> more visible to potential contributors. Within the uber-group, some people<br>
> would naturally gravitate toward specific tasks while others would<br>
> multi-task as they have been doing.<br>
><br>
> Over time we could expand the purview of the group to include things like<br>
> moderating instructional videos and comments at <a href="http://wordpress.tv" target="_blank">wordpress.tv</a> (and start<br>
> embedding appropriate videos into codex), possibly helping to staff<br>
> in-person help desks in local communities and/or at events like WordCamps<br>
> and Meetups, etc. I think the prospects are pretty exciting, and I could<br>
> see this becoming the biggest and most active of all the contributor<br>
> groups, which would be awesome.<br>
><br>
> If there are any strong objections to this approach, please reply to this<br>
> thread today so we can discuss. If not, and everyone is willing to give<br>
> this a shot and all work together (at least as an experiment for, say, the<br>
> next release cycle or two), I'll go ahead and set up the group blog<br>
> tomorrow.<br>
><br>
> Jane<br>
> ______________________________**_________________<br>
> wp-docs mailing list<br>
> <a href="mailto:wp-docs@lists.automattic.com" target="_blank">wp-docs@lists.automattic.com</a><br>
> <a href="http://lists.automattic.com/**mailman/listinfo/wp-docs" target="_blank">http://lists.automattic.com/**mailman/listinfo/wp-docs</a><<a href="http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs" target="_blank">http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs</a>><br>
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Message: 4<br>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 12:28:54 -0300<br>
From: Andrea Rennick <<a href="mailto:andrea@ronandandrea.com" target="_blank">andrea@ronandandrea.com</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [wp-docs] Joining Forces: Support<br>
To: WordPress Documentation <<a href="mailto:wp-docs@lists.automattic.com" target="_blank">wp-docs@lists.automattic.com</a>><br>
Message-ID:<br>
<CAJzjkbcDQSKBwqomLSyERU7Wu14FSG=<a href="mailto:DG%2B%2BPNLhTqRBfwbs1Hg@mail.gmail.com" target="_blank">DG++PNLhTqRBfwbs1Hg@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"<br>
<br>
It makes totally sense, because Support & Docs are two sides of the same<br>
coin. :) If users can't understanding docs or can't find them, they post in<br>
the forums. ;P<br>
<br>
Better docs mean less support issues, because people don't scale. And the<br>
people answering questions are the first ones who see the need for new<br>
docs. Because they answer the same questions over and over (and over) again.<br>
<br>
Getting people to read docs is a separate issue, but having support and<br>
docs work hand in hand in tandem is a big first step.<br>
<br>
I think half the people overlap anyway, yes?<br>
<br>
a.<br>
<br>
On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 11:51 AM, Chip Bennett <<a href="mailto:chip@chipbennett.net" target="_blank">chip@chipbennett.net</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> Personally, I love the idea. Speaking as a contributor group member who<br>
> tries to keep in the loop regarding support and/or Codex issues that impact<br>
> our group (or issues where our contributor group can be helpful), such<br>
> consolidation is welcome.<br>
><br>
> Chip<br>
><br>
><br>
> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 7:09 AM, Jane Wells <<a href="mailto:jane@automattic.com" target="_blank">jane@automattic.com</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
>> Hi everyone. The results of the recent surveys to identify active<br>
>> contributors and elect team reps made it pretty clear that the docs team is<br>
>> in a bit of a slump, organizationally speaking. Only 5 people from the<br>
>> wp-docs post responded, and of those, 2 were new or not yet contributing,<br>
>> and there was no consensus re reps among the remaining 3 respondents. It<br>
>> got me thinking about how we organize contributors, what has worked well<br>
>> elsewhere in the WP ecosystem and in other free software projects, and<br>
>> leads me to this proposal: what if we combined forums and docs into one<br>
>> Support team?<br>
>><br>
>> Looking back at the Codex activity from the past six months or year,<br>
>> chunks of it have been tied to forum mods (like Ipstenu and Andrea_r),<br>
>> other contributor groups (like Chip on the Theme Review Team), and new<br>
>> releases. Not that how Automattic/WordPress.com organizes itself should<br>
>> decide anything, but their support team manages forums, email support, and<br>
>> docs, and it seems to work pretty well. They have a schedule for reviewing<br>
>> existing documentation so it never gets too far out of date, and the people<br>
>> on the front lines with users in the forums and via email can see very<br>
>> clearly where they need to beef up documentation. I'm thinking this could<br>
>> work well for .org, too. Those who are strong writers and just want to<br>
>> contribute to documentation could still do so, but within a context of what<br>
>> our user support needs are at any given time based on the actual support<br>
>> requests.<br>
>><br>
>> What I'm envisioning is less siloing of contributor personnel, with one<br>
>> group blog at <a href="http://make.wordpress.org/support" target="_blank">make.wordpress.org/support</a> that uses tags like forums and<br>
>> codex to organize posts, and has pages to help orient new contributors and<br>
>> get them started. These mailing lists could fade away in favor of email<br>
>> subscriptions from the blog, which are more easily searchable and would be<br>
>> more visible to potential contributors. Within the uber-group, some people<br>
>> would naturally gravitate toward specific tasks while others would<br>
>> multi-task as they have been doing.<br>
>><br>
>> Over time we could expand the purview of the group to include things like<br>
>> moderating instructional videos and comments at <a href="http://wordpress.tv" target="_blank">wordpress.tv</a> (and start<br>
>> embedding appropriate videos into codex), possibly helping to staff<br>
>> in-person help desks in local communities and/or at events like WordCamps<br>
>> and Meetups, etc. I think the prospects are pretty exciting, and I could<br>
>> see this becoming the biggest and most active of all the contributor<br>
>> groups, which would be awesome.<br>
>><br>
>> If there are any strong objections to this approach, please reply to this<br>
>> thread today so we can discuss. If not, and everyone is willing to give<br>
>> this a shot and all work together (at least as an experiment for, say, the<br>
>> next release cycle or two), I'll go ahead and set up the group blog<br>
>> tomorrow.<br>
>><br>
>> Jane<br>
>> ______________________________**_________________<br>
>> wp-docs mailing list<br>
>> <a href="mailto:wp-docs@lists.automattic.com" target="_blank">wp-docs@lists.automattic.com</a><br>
>> <a href="http://lists.automattic.com/**mailman/listinfo/wp-docs" target="_blank">http://lists.automattic.com/**mailman/listinfo/wp-docs</a><<a href="http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs" target="_blank">http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs</a>><br>
>><br>
><br>
><br>
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> wp-docs mailing list<br>
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><br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
--<br>
Andrea Rennick, <a href="http://wpebooks.com" target="_blank">http://wpebooks.com</a> and <a href="http://ronandandrea.com" target="_blank">http://ronandandrea.com</a><br>
Co-author of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies <a href="http://rml.me/aio" target="_blank">http://rml.me/aio</a><br>
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