Subject:
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Re: I'll volunteer for the LEGO FAQ
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.faq
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Date:
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Fri, 23 Apr 1999 06:13:36 GMT
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Viewed:
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1652 times
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In lugnet.faq, jsproat@geocities.com (Sproaticus) writes:
> "G. Crisp" wrote:
> > Beaker was working on one, but he changed jobs or something and could
> > no longer spend the time. It was suggested that he post what he had
> > done here and we could all work on it together. Want to take the
> > challenge? If you have some material, post it here and we can get
> > this puppy going!
Thanks for starting the ball rolling again, Greg!
> Sure, I'm up for the challenge, at least to get it off the ground.
That's what we need most right now. :) Anything you can do to help would
be appreciated by all.
But don't work in a cave. :) Stay in touch, rub shoulders, flood the group
(this FAQ group) with ideas.
This newsgroup was created especially for holding these types of FAQ format
design discussions, and nothing related to it is too obscure or esoteric to
discuss at this point.
lugnet.faq (group):
Discussions and collaboration on FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
lists for LEGO-related newsgroups and/or mailing lists; design and
implementation discussions for unified multi/meta-FAQ; discussions
related to FAQ additions/deletions/corrections.
But more important than the format right now is just getting data together
as a big list of questions & answers. The format discussions can go on as a
background thread.
> I'm seriously psyched on this, I can put the time into it right now,
> and I think it'd be loads of fun. Also, I learned a lot about how to
> and how *not* to build one with the GNU Pilot SDK FAQ. :-P I'm not
> co much concerned with getting it into a perldbm form as I am about
> getting content up and available to the general public. I feel the
> format of the FAQ should be generic enough to facilitate its migration
> into a more sophisticated database later.
Yeah, I'd say start simple. Maybe it belongs as XML or something later.
Definitely think it should be text-based and not rely on any kind of DB
format or code for storage. These days, large bodies of text (say, 2 to 50
megabytes) are very easy/fast to process and munge up into other forms.
Doesn't need to be super-complex. Something similar to SMTP or NNTP headers
probably would work great.
For example, maybe one file for each question, formatted like so:
Newsgroups: [list of newsgroups (wildcards permitted) that this question
and its answer would appear in]
Subject: [this is the question]
Category: [named section; further modifies section implied by newsgroup]
[blank line]
[body - this is the answer to the question]
Individual filenames or positions in subdirectories wouldn't matter much;
the FAQ builder would just loop over the giant file list and slurp them up
and process them one by one based on what's inside the files.
(Note that an approach like this would "mesh" very nicely with the news
system here. Gimme a week or so to figure out how to brain dump all the
rest of these thoughts... It's important and it's related to the
datafication of CAD models and of links.)
> Todd, do you have any plans for where the FAQ would reside,
Yeap. :) Every section and subsection conveniently organized and reachable
from the webpages associated with each newsgroup (which are well on their
way to having much more meaningful URLs and UIs...perhaps only a couple more
weeks or so before this is ready for final unveiling.)
> and roughly what limits you'd want on material? e.g. would you like
> a combination of already existing FAQs, or do you want it geared more
> towards LUGNET-specific items?
Generally, I think what ought to go into it is whatever is most beneficial
to people stopping by. BTW, feel free to grab, hack, slash, chew up and
spit out anything from the Auction FAQ located at:
http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/guide/auction/
> Any chance for a FAQ search engine when the FAQ is published?
Absolutely! All resources on the lugnet.com server will eventually be
searchable via an integrated search facility (rather than separate
facilities). That's still a ways off, but it's high on the global priority
list. The best part, though, I think, will be the ability to browse down
into it through categories, since the sections will be organized by and
associated with newsgroups, and the newsgroups are organized hierarchically
and will soon be browseable hierarchically.
> I do like Beaker's idea about multiple FAQs. (1)
> [...]
> 1. http://www.lugnet.com/news/display.cgi?lugnet.faq:20
Hmm, I thought that multiple FAQs was my idea 12 days prior to that. :-=(
http://www.lugnet.com/news/display.cgi?lugnet.general:1669
Oh well, doesn't matter who thought of it. If it gets implemented, that's
what really makes the difference. :)
> A modular approach would
> help not only in maintaining different (potentially large) sets of
> information, but is also a little friendlier for the reader.
Amen!!!!!!
> ...What happened to Jim Baker?
Dunno. :-( Disappeared or something. I wrote him in February and March
and then just a few days ago and still no answer.
This disappearance suggests that it is probably a good idea to post stuff
here regularly, so that unfinished business can be picked up and worked on
by anyone who has some time to volunteer. In the absence of a groupware-
assisted solution to the many-cooks problem, people could declare their
intentions via e-mail or posting here, and whoever wants to be a Faqmesiter
for a section of the FAQ could stay in touch with them. Would that work OK?
> Does he or anyone else have a copy
> of the material he compiled, and would it be considered rude for me
> to use it? Did Jeff Thompson ever receive the material? (2)
> 2. http://www.lugnet.com/news/display.cgi?lugnet.faq:4
I wish I knew.
--Todd
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: I'll volunteer for the LEGO FAQ
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| Todd Lehman (lehman@javanet.com) wrote: [...] (...) Should I reformat the LDraw FAQ in the way you indicate below and post it here? [...] (...) We also need: Content-Language: [ISO 639 language code] (most of the ldraw.org content is going to be (...) (26 years ago, 23-Apr-99, to lugnet.faq)
| | | Re: I'll volunteer for the LEGO FAQ
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| (...) :-{ <) :-) (...) I BC'd him in the post where I volunteered, so if that e-mail address is still being read, he'll see it too. (...) That works great for me. I won't be able to put a long-term commitment into the FAQ, just a few months or so. (...) (26 years ago, 23-Apr-99, to lugnet.faq)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | I'll volunteer for the LEGO FAQ
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| (...) Sure, I'm up for the challenge, at least to get it off the ground. I'm seriously psyched on this, I can put the time into it right now, and I think it'd be loads of fun. Also, I learned a lot about how to and how *not* to build one with the (...) (26 years ago, 23-Apr-99, to lugnet.faq)
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