On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 7:57 AM, C. Michael Pilato <cmpilato_at_collab.net> wrote:
> Justin, we're trying to aim our content at a wide variety of individuals,
> from those who've only heard of Subversion to those that use it heavily to
> those that are developing it. And yeah, I admit that I've been trying to
> give non-dev site visitors preferential treatment. Maybe that's wrong of
> me. To that end, "Getting Involved" isn't really aimed at you (and
> furthermore, is but a draft at this stage), so I'm not surprised that you
> find it useless. It's really aimed at a few million other Subversion users,
> fashioned after similar pages found on other high-profile software projects'
> websites.
In my mind, the point of being an open-source project is that we are
trying to encourage contributions. Users are a happy and fortunate
side-effect. So, when our website specifically hides relevant
information about contributing where a developer who wants to think
about contributing won't find it, then our website has failed.
When the document's subtitle is: "If you are contributing to the
Subversion project, please read this first." and we don't link to it
*anywhere* where any reasonable developer would find it, isn't
something really really broken? (BTW, no, "Documentation" is not
where a developer would look if they want to contribute! I read
"documentation" as "SVN book". Not where I would expect to find
developer process info!)
I applaud going after users - but remember that is a decision that you
and Mark made on your own and didn't really consult anyone else on.
That choice reflects your personal priorities - great! My priorities
are developers and potential contributors - and I think that's just as
valid a focus and at least worth throwing a few bones at. I do not
believe that one additional link on the sidebar is going to ruin that
focus.
All I'm asking is that we add something somewhere in a prominent place
that *clearly* points to our document that says: "If you are
contributing to the Subversion project, please read this first".
Nothing more, nothing less.
I really don't care where and how we do it, but if we continue to hide
it, I feel it is going to hurt our community in the long run. --
justin
Received on 2010-02-03 17:22:01 CET