[wp-docs] Joining Forces

Tue May 15 15:53:56 UTC 2012

I just want to chime in with, "I'm following and listening to the
discussion."

I'm too new to editing to have an opinion but wanted to raise my hand and
say, "I'm here."

Valerie Lynn
Email:   val.lynn at gmail.com
GooglePlus:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/104997630384054362441/

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 11:28 AM, <wp-docs-request at lists.automattic.com>wrote:

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 reviewing existing documentation so it never gets too far out of date,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