[ntp:questions] Twiki - who, what where?

Steve Kostecke kostecke at ntp.org
Thu Aug 28 18:45:07 UTC 2003


In article <3F4E2DAA.DED8041D at udel.edu>, David L. Mills wrote:

> Steve Kostecke wrote:
>
>> In article <mailman.11.1062077026.1841.questions at ntp.org>, Brad
>> Knowles wrote:
>>
>> > We'll have to see what is feasible. It may be that TWiki can't do
>> > this, but perhaps we might be able to find an XML->Twiki conversion
>> > tool that we can use,
>>
>> It's not just an issue of format conversion. There is the small
>> matter of merging changes made off-line by Ulrich with changes made
>> on-line by other TWiki users. Wikis, including TWiki, are intended to
>> be edited by and and all participants. A Wiki is the wrong tool if
>> you only want one person to edit the content off-line.
>
> As with other maintenance operations in the Corps, the issue of
> toolmaking completely overshadows the utility on the part of the
> community.

That's an unfair and unwarranted statement. The entire point of
toolmaking to provide tools that are useful and serve a purpose. I would
not waste my time here working something that I did not see as useful.

Incidentally, I'm not an NTP-hacker; my contribution to this project is
in the area of tool building/maintenance.

> Where is the supposed user base contributing to the FAQ and why can't
> it be handled in traditional cut and paste?

We're not talking about replacing the FAQ. We are providing an easy to
use tool that, among other things, provides the members of our community
a centralized location to post and maintain their "Mini-HOWTOs",
QuickStartGuides, etc., that would otherwise be scattered all over the
web. 

The FAQ is a nice "formal document". But the burden of maintaining the
FAQ rests on the editor's shoulders.

> Why burden the community with additional tools and learning curves?

If you bothered to correspond with those members of our community who
have contributed to the TWiki you would find that even the first-time
contributors have found the TWiki to be easy to use.

> You have about 200 megabytes from me in the form of NTP documentation,
> NTP project pages and a book. I don't intend to use twiki for any of
> this stuff.

We have not asked you to do anything with your documentation. Nor do we
plan to.

-- 
Steve Kostecke <kostecke at ntp.org>



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