[wp-docs] How Can I Get Involved?

Tue May 29 13:24:33 UTC 2012

On 5/16/2012 8:00 AM, wp-docs-request at lists.automattic.com wrote:
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>     1. Re: Joining Forces: Support (Lorelle on WordPress)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 15:32:42 -0700
> From: Lorelle on WordPress<lorelleonwordpress at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [wp-docs] Joining Forces: Support
> To: WordPress Documentation<wp-docs at lists.automattic.com>
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAN2v4ZTr=1q-ng3DtvrFS85jTR3zGYeWYREB+qS6U3ykPZhuag at mail.gmail.com>
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>
> I've worked with some three person teams on many projects and love it for
> that reason, Andrea. There are a LOT of plates to spin when it comes to the
> Codex. We've never been able to get someone to coordinate the international
> versions and I fear for what are on those pages, for example.
>
> The WordPress Meetup group here in Portland has asked me to do a WordPress
> Codex evening followed by a Codex Day. I'll be posting about that in a bit,
> and I'd love to see more such projects from WordCamps and WordPress
> Meetups, too, and that takes some team coordination as well.
>
> Lorelle
>
>
> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 12:57 PM, Andrea Rennick<andrea at ronandandrea.com>wrote:
>
>> Ideally a team of three. One is too few (what if they get busy? then it
>> stalls), and two can disagree (another stall) while a third can be a
>> tiebreaker if needed. Or a sane person, depending. :P
>>
>> I'm just tossing out ideas here.
>>
>> a.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 4:28 PM, Doug Sparling<doug.sparling at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> I like the idea as well.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 2:22 PM, Lorelle on WordPress<
>>> lorelleonwordpress at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>>> This is so exciting. The Docs team has been walking on egg shells for
>>>> years over the confusion of the WordPress Handbook, and I'm eager to see
>>>> new energy being sent in this direction.
>>>>
>>>> The close ties between the Forum and Codex have been there since the
>>>> beginning. However, time and skills serving the Forum and the time and
>>>> skills serving documentation are distinctive, as several people mentioned.
>>>> I agree that there needs to be one or two people overseeing the
>>>> organizational structure, management, and maintenance of the Codex.
>>>>
>>>> Having a site of our own has been essential and lacking, which is why we
>>>> created the unofficial docs task list not long ago. It was critical that we
>>>> find a better way of communicating and keeping our community connected than
>>>> the mailing list. As it was "unofficial," we haven't done much to promote
>>>> it or work with it, but it was a start. We need to have a place to support
>>>> and educate each other on how to write for the Codex and offer task lists
>>>> beyond those we've had in the past on the Codex, so I'm excited about
>>>> having our own space or making the current blog on WordPress.com official.
>>>>
>>>> The mailing list has not been the sole line of communication either. As
>>>> many do, I work with many people one on one to help them write and edit for
>>>> the Codex and assign tasks, communicating with the mailing list when
>>>> necessary for edits and such.
>>>>
>>>> As we struggled to understand the role the WordPress Handbook and
>>>> WordPress Lessons played in the role of documentation in the WordPress
>>>> Community, we've come to realize the Codex best serves the WordPress
>>>> Community by providing support for issues found within the Forums,
>>>> expanding upon Learn WordPress instructions for the WordPress Lessons
>>>> section, and developing more extensive documentation and guides beyond the
>>>> basics found within the help files, especially servicing developers and
>>>> programmers.
>>>>
>>>> While melding together Forum and Codex sounds great on the surface, I
>>>> agree with Andrea and others that we need to have one or more people
>>>> focused on the bigger picture overseeing the Codex, thus supporting the
>>>> overall WordPress Community better.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for the survey, Jane, and for helping with all of this.
>>>>
>>>> Lorelle
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 8:28 AM, Andrea Rennick<andrea at ronandandrea.com
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 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>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> --
>>>>> 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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>>>>>
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>>
>> --
>> --
>> 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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Hello, I would like to know how I get involved in helping out in the 
Wordpress community?

Thanks
Wayne Hatter