Looks like all this has come to nought. Even the sinclairfaq domain has expired I believe - it's all in Japanese!
Err, no, they're fine ;-)
Domain Name:SINCLAIRFAQ.ORG
Created On:15-Jan-2010 23:02:40 UTC
Last Updated On:17-Mar-2010 03:48:25 UTC
Expiration Date:15-Jan-2012 23:02:40 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Dotster, Inc. (R34-LROR)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:DOT-PHANBSZ7QPI4
Registrant Name:Martijn van der Heide
Registrant Organization:ThunderWare Research Center
I agree with Phil that the faq project needs some proper organisation.
After all the initial buzz I don't see any reduction in the fragmentation of information at all
Personally I would suggest the following three point plan to get the FAQ going again
1) FIRST assemble a team of site editors and set up a structure for who will do what work etc. (My proposal would be to have an inner circle of wiki editors who maintain the FAQ to keep the articles in order and provide some much needed cohesion. Use a wiki system to allow anyone to participate in the project without having to commit all their time to it as I think this is part of the problem... People want to help but don't want to be lumbered with having to do the whole faq themselves!)
2) start a FRESH faq project based on some sort of CMS installed on the FAQ domain (I would imagine a wiki based system would work best).
3) begin migrating the old information from the old, fragmented FAQs into the new system to flesh it out immediately. People are more likely to contribute more if there's something there already.
This will also allow the material to be fixed, correcting the old errors, removing duplicated information, and getting everything into one central repository. Once that's done the old FAQs can be "archived" :)
I'm happy to be part of the FAQ Team as I have plenty of time to spare. provided that is anyone else joins me of course :p
But seriously, I thought a core team of 3 was installed? Danforth, Zeropolis and one other - to collate the existing information and set up a foundation for others to work upon. Or did I imagine it all?
But seriously, I thought a core team of 3 was installed? Danforth, Zeropolis and one other - to collate the existing information and set up a foundation for others to work upon. Or did I imagine it all?
what have you actually been doing on the FAQ site? rewriting a speccy FAQ etc?
I don't want it to look like I'm trying to steal the project off you :-o It just seems that the current system of a couple of people trying to find time to do huge bits of work is not an efficient way to do things.
Seems to me that if Zeropolis has no time to maintain the FAQ, we should either hand it over to someone who's actually interested (Guesser, in this case), or move the FAQ links over to the tech wiki.
Who knows how long it will take for Zero to get through his backlog? If someone can't spare the time to do a job, then they shouldn't offer, imo.
But guesser cant do it hes got a website called my rubbish website and hes not being ironic it is rubbish, for eg in his gallery's there's one called monster rat and its just pictures of a bridge and stuff wheres the monster rat!.
Do we have a clear idea of what actually needs doing? I've got plenty of time to spare over at least the next few weeks and would be more than happy to get stuck in if it's just a matter of cleaning things up or rearranging them.
Longer term is more difficult to commit to, though I'd obviously be willing to do what I can.
Guesser has put his name forward so thats 1 person.
I'll put my name forward as I can dedicate 1-2 hours a day to this AND I'm in daily contact with Guesser in #spin, communication in a project such as this is important.
at the moment all it is is a link page pointing at the existing FAQs. If we're to have one FAQ site to rule them all which I gathered was the idea, all the information needs collating and putting in one place. The secondary benefit of this would be that all the redundant and/or incorrect information could be chopped out as it's sorted.
I think before a single line of text is rewritten we need to decide what the sinclairfaq site should contain, and contact the "owners" of the existing FAQ material asking to reuse as much as is relevant.
There's no sense in re-doing work that's already been done and there's a *lot* of information buried in the various FAQs but it's all jumbled up and you have to know what you're looking for to find it
I think the Tech Wiki is the way to go. It can be updated by anyone, and doesn't need to rely on one person (or even a team) to get updates done.
I personally think a wiki is a good tool for this, but I would prefer to see a dedicated fully functional wiki installed on a server somewhere rather than linking to the existing scratchpad one. Personally I find it horrible to use. It also looks highly unprofessional having our supposed main community reference site festooned with ads... I don't know if martijn would be able to spare the space on his server (where the sinclairfaq is currently hosted) for a mediawiki installation or whatever but I'm sure we can find somewhere to put this thing on a wiki that we as a community actually control.
But guesser cant do it hes got a website called my rubbish website and hes not being ironic it is rubbish, for eg in his gallery's there's one called monster rat and its just pictures of a bridge and stuff wheres the monster rat!.
it's climbing up a microwave tower... and where's this bridge? :smile:
at the moment all it is is a link page pointing at the existing FAQs. If we're to have one FAQ site to rule them all which I gathered was the idea, all the information needs collating and putting in one place. The secondary benefit of this would be that all the redundant and/or incorrect information could be chopped out as it's sorted.
I think before a single line of text is rewritten we need to decide what the sinclairfaq site should contain, and contact the "owners" of the existing FAQ material asking to reuse as much as is relevant.
There's no sense in re-doing work that's already been done and there's a *lot* of information buried in the various FAQs but it's all jumbled up and you have to know what you're looking for to find it
Hmmm, that reads like an application for Project Manager...
You sure you weren't that bad? I mean good PMs can usually point the blame elsewhere, or at least delegate some of it off, when the poop hits the fan?
:grin:
well if by delegating you mean saying "sod it, what's the point?" and going back to bed to leave the rest fail to sort it out by themselves... then yes, I was great at delegation lol.
I sense topic drift occurring here... lets get back on track.
I seem to have accidentally volunteered myself onto some kind of FAQ wiki team. A wiki has been created and I've been told to "knock myself out" lol :-o
Putting aside the memory of me saying the last project I participated in was a disaster for a moment... Who would like to be part of an experiment to see if we really can put together a decent contender for being the new Sinclair FAQ? :)
has anyone ever had that feeling as they're barrelling down a mountain amongst thousands of tons of snow and uprooted pine trees that when standing at the top of an unstable mountain peak they should have kept their damn mouth shut? :lol:
Comments
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
Perhaps you need a typing wand? :razz:
Quite right! I was looking at www.sinclairfaq.com. Silly me!
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
And we are surprised by this because?
After all the initial buzz I don't see any reduction in the fragmentation of information at all
Personally I would suggest the following three point plan to get the FAQ going again
1) FIRST assemble a team of site editors and set up a structure for who will do what work etc. (My proposal would be to have an inner circle of wiki editors who maintain the FAQ to keep the articles in order and provide some much needed cohesion. Use a wiki system to allow anyone to participate in the project without having to commit all their time to it as I think this is part of the problem... People want to help but don't want to be lumbered with having to do the whole faq themselves!)
2) start a FRESH faq project based on some sort of CMS installed on the FAQ domain (I would imagine a wiki based system would work best).
3) begin migrating the old information from the old, fragmented FAQs into the new system to flesh it out immediately. People are more likely to contribute more if there's something there already.
This will also allow the material to be fixed, correcting the old errors, removing duplicated information, and getting everything into one central repository. Once that's done the old FAQs can be "archived" :)
I'm happy to be part of the FAQ Team as I have plenty of time to spare. provided that is anyone else joins me of course :p
Oh well... one tries to be an optimist. ;)
But seriously, I thought a core team of 3 was installed? Danforth, Zeropolis and one other - to collate the existing information and set up a foundation for others to work upon. Or did I imagine it all?
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
apparently so :)
I don't want it to look like I'm trying to steal the project off you :-o It just seems that the current system of a couple of people trying to find time to do huge bits of work is not an efficient way to do things.
Who knows how long it will take for Zero to get through his backlog? If someone can't spare the time to do a job, then they shouldn't offer, imo.
D.
Longer term is more difficult to commit to, though I'd obviously be willing to do what I can.
What actually needs doing?
Guesser has put his name forward so thats 1 person.
I'll put my name forward as I can dedicate 1-2 hours a day to this AND I'm in daily contact with Guesser in #spin, communication in a project such as this is important.
So, if you want me then I'm available.
at the moment all it is is a link page pointing at the existing FAQs. If we're to have one FAQ site to rule them all which I gathered was the idea, all the information needs collating and putting in one place. The secondary benefit of this would be that all the redundant and/or incorrect information could be chopped out as it's sorted.
I think before a single line of text is rewritten we need to decide what the sinclairfaq site should contain, and contact the "owners" of the existing FAQ material asking to reuse as much as is relevant.
There's no sense in re-doing work that's already been done and there's a *lot* of information buried in the various FAQs but it's all jumbled up and you have to know what you're looking for to find it
I personally think a wiki is a good tool for this, but I would prefer to see a dedicated fully functional wiki installed on a server somewhere rather than linking to the existing scratchpad one. Personally I find it horrible to use. It also looks highly unprofessional having our supposed main community reference site festooned with ads... I don't know if martijn would be able to spare the space on his server (where the sinclairfaq is currently hosted) for a mediawiki installation or whatever but I'm sure we can find somewhere to put this thing on a wiki that we as a community actually control.
it's climbing up a microwave tower... and where's this bridge? :smile:
Well I've been a project manager before doing a uni supervision group project....
it was an unmitigated disaster :lol:
not that that was entirely my fault
You sure you weren't that bad? I mean good PMs can usually point the blame elsewhere, or at least delegate some of it off, when the poop hits the fan?
:grin:
ohhhhhhh yeah its a microwave tower not a bridge, silly me. Right ignore me back to work.
yeth marthter.
/me hobbles away back to the cellar
well if by delegating you mean saying "sod it, what's the point?" and going back to bed to leave the rest fail to sort it out by themselves... then yes, I was great at delegation lol.
I sense topic drift occurring here... lets get back on track.
I seem to have accidentally volunteered myself onto some kind of FAQ wiki team. A wiki has been created and I've been told to "knock myself out" lol :-o
Putting aside the memory of me saying the last project I participated in was a disaster for a moment... Who would like to be part of an experiment to see if we really can put together a decent contender for being the new Sinclair FAQ? :)
has anyone ever had that feeling as they're barrelling down a mountain amongst thousands of tons of snow and uprooted pine trees that when standing at the top of an unstable mountain peak they should have kept their damn mouth shut? :lol:
Mediawiki? Anything else?
A mediawiki installation has been set up for us to experiment yes. Still trying to get it configured correctly at the moment... :)