Bitching about the documentation...

[rurpy at yahoo.com]

"Paul Rubin" <http://phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote:
> Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com> writes:
> > Or, better still, by an accomplished writer who has access to the
> > code's author. This was indeed my experience in writing the docs for
> > previously undocumented modules. The author was happy to help me by
> > answering questions, and this did make the docs better than they'd
> > otherwise have been.
>
> Yes, this can work pretty well for some modules, especially when
> there's in-person contact rather than just email.  The total amount of
> work done between the two people may be more than would be needed if
> the coder just wrote the docs and got it over with.  But any way that
> gets it done is fine.

Redhat's Fedora project seems to have a fairly well developed
program for recruiting and encouraging writers.

I thought when I looked at their material 6-12 months ago, I
read that they formally facilitated contact between a project's
developers and writer(s) doing the documentation.  But I couldn't
find anything specific on that when I looked just now.

They might be a source of some useful ideas though (assuming
you don't already know all this.)
http://www.fedora.redhat.com/projects/docs/
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject/NewWriters