Subject:
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Multiple FAQ's (was CFD: lugnet.market.shipping)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.faq
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Date:
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Sat, 9 Jan 1999 20:21:24 GMT
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Reply-To:
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beaker@%nomorespam%pobox.com
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Viewed:
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2488 times
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Also sprach Todd Lehman:
: Having a separate .shipping newsgroup also implies a separate and "real"
: branch of the new FAQ.
Todd is getting way ahead of me here, so I think an update is in order.
I am doing what I can to get a first edition of the LUGnet FAQ out by
March of this year. Doing so will rely on a number of steps:
(1) Creating a data format for the master list of question/answer pairs.
This is the most critical design element in my mind because it will have
important implications for expansion capability going forward. I have a
number of ideas in this area. I'm leaning towards a comma delimited
file of classification codes, the last of which for each line is a key
value related to a Perl-dbm associative array of question/answer pairs.
(2) Actual data entry of q/a pairs. Perhaps 10% of this work is done
already, with perhaps 50% of questions already posed. Because step 1 is
not complete, current storage of this step is simple ascii-text. This
step as a whole is by far the largest effort.
(3) Creation of a FAQ-generation application. This, by comparison to
the previous steps, should be trivial, especially if I do a good job on
step 1:)
So, the first edition of the 'master list' of questions will certainly
facilitate the creation of multiple FAQ's. However, I'm concerned that
immediately going to 10 or more FAQ's will leave some of them severely
impoverished. Areas in which I am not very familiar will obviously
initially suffer, although I am on track to begin inviting specific
contributions in February. I envision a 'general' FAQ which will not
only contain general-interest information but also contain invitations
for expansion, perhaps even un-answered questions for future editions.
In short, I see this as a truly evolutionary process. I planed
initially on doing one document with quarterly updates, but with Todd's
suggestion, I'm seeing that we can do much more frequent updates with
little additional effort, perhaps having new editions as often as we
post the FAQ. Breaking out sections when they bcome large enough will
become trivial.
/ _ _ / _ _ "Sit down, you foolish mortal fish!
()(-(//((-/ -- overheard at Backstreet
============= Jim Baker -- Weather Weasel Extraordinaire ==============
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | CFD: lugnet.market.shipping
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| [Crossposted to lugnet.admin.general & lugnet.general & lugnet.faq, with followups set to lugnet.admin.general] This is an informal call for discussion on the topic of creating a new newsgroup lugnet.market.shipping dedicated to: - discussions - (...) (26 years ago, 7-Jan-99, to lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.general, lugnet.faq)
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