Hi, all.
My students and I are supporting work by the Technical Document Re-working Group https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_Document_Re-working_Group this semester. We are focusing on the Toolforge https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Portal:Toolforgedocumentation, and we'd like to know what you would find most helpful.
If you're willing to answer a few questions about the Toolforge https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Portal:Toolforgedocumentation via email or video chat, please let me know by Friday, 23 February.
Thank you, Russell Willerton russellwillerton@boisestate.edu
Hi Russell,
This is potentially more meta than you intend but a big thing we seem to be missing from an administrators point of view is some guidance on how to ask for assistance. What information to include in a request for help, and where to make it. How to determine if you need more help, and what to expect when you put it your request together. We have precious little of this type of leading documentation and usually it is the difference between asking a meaningful question that prompts responses and not.
Something in the vein of https://secure.phabricator.com/book/phabflavor/article/please_please_please/ but clearer and tailored for our audience.
I find myself asking for folks to share the actual error that is happening often, instead of "x is broken". Almost universally, "x is broken" is not enough for anyone to help. Tell us what you've tried, why you thought it would work, and what you are trying accomplish, etc.
Best,
Chase
On Tue, Feb 20, 2018 at 4:32 PM, Russell Willerton < russellwillerton@boisestate.edu> wrote:
Hi, all.
My students and I are supporting work by the Technical Document Re-working Group https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_Document_Re-working_Group this semester. We are focusing on the Toolforge https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Portal:Toolforgedocumentation, and we'd like to know what you would find most helpful.
If you're willing to answer a few questions about the Toolforge https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Portal:Toolforgedocumentation via email or video chat, please let me know by Friday, 23 February.
Thank you, Russell Willerton russellwillerton@boisestate.edu
-- Russell Willerton, Ph.D. Professor, Technical Communication English Department, Boise State University Office: Liberal Arts 211B * Voice mail #: 426-7089 Book: *Plain Language and Ethical Action http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415741040/ *from Routledge
Wikimedia Cloud Services mailing list Cloud@lists.wikimedia.org (formerly labs-l@lists.wikimedia.org) https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/cloud
On Tue, Feb 20, 2018 at 3:32 PM, Russell Willerton russellwillerton@boisestate.edu wrote:
Hi, all.
My students and I are supporting work by the Technical Document Re-working Group this semester. We are focusing on the Toolforge documentation, and we'd like to know what you would find most helpful.
If you're willing to answer a few questions about the Toolforge documentation via email or video chat, please let me know by Friday, 23 February.
Thank you, Russell Willerton russellwillerton@boisestate.edu
-- Russell Willerton, Ph.D. Professor, Technical Communication English Department, Boise State University Office: Liberal Arts 211B * Voice mail #: 426-7089 Book: Plain Language and Ethical Action from Routledge
Participating with Dr. Willerton and his students on this project would be a great way for those of you who have constantly asked for better documentation on the Toolforge annual surveys to help shape our efforts to improve. I can personally guarantee that the Cloud Services team and others will be reading the output of this project and using it to plan next steps in improving the help content and other technical documentation for Toolforge.
Bryan