Re: [Firebird-website] [Firebird-general] Re: Fb Website

[Helen B. <he...@ii...>]

At 07:49 AM 19/11/2009, tjelvar eriksson wrote:

>Finally I belive we're not getting anywhere - I'm not happy anyway.

Talk is cheap.  These discussions never go anywhere because people like you always insist on putting the cart before the horse.  What we need - and always have needed - is a team of people who are willing to take responsibility, coordinate their efforts and do the actual work.  How it is done emerges from the skills and time available in that team.  That means figuring out *first* what we want to have on the website, *next* how to get it (today, tomorrow, next month, next year) and *finally*, how to deliver and maintain it.

>Thing are compex. Yes...

Not as complex as you (and other talkers-not-doers) seem to want them to be.

>Efforts have been made. Yes.... ..but any progress?

Progress happens when efforts are targeted and people are motivated.  Cosmetic attempts are fun for the cosmetician but they don't address the objective in any practical way.  "Analysis first" is a principle most of us should be familiar with.

>Do we wan't firebird to be fairly unknown? Maby. It's convinient in a  
>way.

Work out something intelligent to define what you think "known" (and "unknown") mean, what is good or bad about both and what you could do to improve the situation.  

>But if firebird is an true open source project, 

A true open source project is one where the source code for a software product is available to anyone.  So Firebird is a true open source project - no "if" about it.

>the community should be heard and invited.

OK - start by defining this "community" - especially the ways that people (including yourself) make it "a community" and earn the right to "heard and invited".  Try to define just *who* has the duty and obligation that you imply in these assertions of yours that always invoke "should" and *why* such people have these obligations

>PAUL, Are you still the official Coordinator of firebird documentation  
>project, share your thoughts!

If you were in any way involved in the community of Firebird workers (which we know you are not) you would not need to ask that question.

But, since you asked the question, Yes, he is, and he won't tell you that it's only a name for what he does for you, on his own time for no reward and rarely any thanks.  Paul develops and maintains the toolset that generates our online and downloadable documentation.  He documents everything he does so that it is ready and available for anyone else who comes along with a genuine desire to be a documentation worker.  He keeps that documentation online and up-to-date as well.  If that were not enough, he is, in reality, the default editor and rewriter of all the project material, although there's no contract that says he must be.  Except for one writer who is developing fresh documentation for the command-line tools, it is Paul, alone, who has written virtually all of the documentation other than the release notes. 

>respectfully,

Oh, really?  Wickering and wibbling about what other people haven't done or should be doing is the antithesis of respect for those who actually DO something.  It is demotivating.  Demotivation inhibits progress in ALL areas of a voluntary community and will kill it, eventually.  Think about that sometimes, when you troll in our lists.

If you have talents that could be contributed to the cause of improving Firebird's web presence AND you are willing to contribute them, then list them out.  That's a good starting place for *everyone* here who desires the improvement of our web presence and wants to participate in progressing it. 

Helen