From: Peter_Constable@sil.org
Date: Tue Aug 12 2003 - 10:40:26 EDT
Jill:
> Isn't the very notion of "submit[ting] a FAQ question" a contradiction in
> terms?
No; *somebody* has to provide the content that gets added to an FAQ page.
> Forum FAQs are generally put together by long-term
> members of forums who are sick of having to answer the same question over
> and over again to all these damn newbies, or by other long-term members
who
> simply wish to cut down the traffic on the list.
True enough. It might help to be aware of a few things, though:
- almost all of the work done in development, maintenance and promotion of
the Standard is done on a voluntary basis
- I think it is generally true of long-term members that their workload in
relation to the Standard has been increasing, not decreasing
- in the past month, during which you arrived, there have been *very*
long-winded discussions on a small set of topics, with a significant number
of posts from people that tend to have *very* lengthy messages (either
because they tend to make lengthy comments or because they tend to quote
messages in their entirety), and with nothing particularly conducive to
addition to an FAQ page
In this recent situation, but even in general, I don't think we should
expect to find long-term members particularly attentive to discussions with
a view to what they could be adding to an FAQ page: they only have so much
bandwidth to offer. If there is something that you think would be a useful
addition to an FAQ, it won't necessarily be a high priority for Mark Davis
or some other long-term member to write it up and add it; and at present,
there's a fair chance that it hasn't even occurred to them that an addition
to an FAQ page might be useful as they're probably exhausted just from the
sheer volume of discussion that's been going on. Certainly, I'm exhausted,
and recent discussion has been on topics in which I have a real interest.
In general, I think you'll find that you're questions will get answered on
this list. Every now and then after discussing some question, someone will
suggest it be added to the FAQ page, and often -- but not necessarily
always -- someone will prepare the content and submit it for addition. But
it's done voluntarily, and someone has to take the initiative to do it and
submit it.
> Now, if it is true, as Mark Davis suggests, that the Frequently Asked
> Questions list at "http://www.unicode.org/faq/" is unrelated to this
list,
Mark did not say or even suggest it was unrelated.
- Peter
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Constable
Non-Roman Script Initiative, SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236, USA
Tel: +1 972 708 7485
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