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Re: Something I would like to see


Tom Fawcett wrote:

> Joshua Drake <[email protected]> wrote:
> > One of the constant drawbacks for the LDP in getting new authors is the
> > requirement that they submit with SGML.
>
> At the risk of sounding like an elitist snot, maybe this is a good thing.
>
> Speaking as a HOWTO author, there's a fair amount of work in organizing,
> writing, illustrating, indexing and maintaining a document.  Learning
> SGML/DocBook is not trivial, but it's not horrible either, and it's only a
> small fraction of the (ongoing) overall author effort.  I have to wonder
> about the people for whom SGML is such an impediment to getting involved---
> would these people really make good contributors?
>

Absolutely. You are an accountant who has been use MAS 90 for years.
All of a sudden you get a offer from 2 different companies one uses Timberline,
the other uses MAS 90.

You take the MAS 90 job because of familiarity with the application. Does it make

you a bad accountant because you don't want to learn Timberline? Absolutely not.

>
> On the other hand, maybe this is a good reason to keep a separate,
> lower-quality document category, like what the mini-HOWTOs used to be,
> which can be submitted in any format.

Just because someone doesn't know SGML does not make the document either lower
quality or the author any less qualified to write a HOWTO.



>
>
> -Tom
>
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Instead of asking why a piece of software is using "1970s technology,"
start asking why software is ignoring 30 years of accumulated wisdom.



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