Re: What do you want to learn?
On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 06:35:41PM -0700, Carla Schroder wrote:
> On Tuesday 03 August 2004 4:47 pm, Matthew Palmer wrote:
> > On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 09:54:23AM -0700, Akkana Peck wrote:
> > > somewhat interested in documentation. Like Carla, I've been daunted
> > > by what I've heard about the NM process, and also by difficulty in
> >
> > What have you heard about the NM process that makes it daunting? You find
> > a Debian Developer (DD) who advocates you, an Application Manager (AM) asks
> > you questions, then writes a report saying you're clueful and should get an
> > account.
> >
> > Lack of documentation is possibly a problem; pointing out places where
> > authors have assumed knowledge not actually available is appreciated.
> > Excessive documentation is dangerous, though -- it solidifies something
> > which is still, to some degree, fluid.
> >
>
> Akkana and I are not the only ones who have the impression that the NM process
> is difficult. If it's not all that bad, then there appears to be a bit of a
> perception problem. Because this isn't something that I just picked up out of
> the blue, I've heard many rants from people going through it. I don't
> remember the details now, but a couple folks posted here that the most
> difficult part was waiting several weeks or more for a decision.
The problem of DAM approval is an ongoing one, but isn't going to be helped
significantly by documentation. We can put a "you may wait some time for
DAM" sign up somewhere, but that won't change the fact that you will
probably have to wait.
> So, would it make sense to post something on the Debian-Women web site
> explaining how it works, or post links to the existing docs?
Why does it have to be on the debian-women site? Could you perhaps tell me
what's wrong with the description in the d-mentors FAQ, so I can fix that?
Or perhaps letting d-www or d-newmaint know about the problem on the main
site so that can be fixed?
> I read through
> the documents explaining the process
> (http://www.debian.org/devel/join/newmaint), and it sounds daunting!
How? What is it that makes it sound daunting? Is it the length of the
process, or the difficulty of it, or the fact that it's run by cantankerous
old bastards? Saying "it sounds daunting" helps those of us who want to
change it not a bit.
> It might
> be helpful to write up the experiences of one or two NMs who have recently
> gone through it. I'm happy to do the writing bit. Telling about real
> experiences should be helpful. Thoughts?
A "testimonials" section might be handy. Thinking back, I didn't find it
particularly difficult or troublesome, though, so perhaps my experience
isn't one you'll want to include. Getting a representative sample is
probably going to be hard no matter what, though.
- Matt
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