[mythtv-users] Myth Documentation, was: Please shut up!

Rod Smith mythtv at rodsbooks.com
Mon Jan 29 19:14:00 UTC 2007


On Monday 29 January 2007 11:45, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 29, 2007 at 10:39:16AM -0500, Steven Adeff wrote:
> > What we need is a note on the front page,
>
> Box added; what do you think?

IMHO, it's bad. Its main point is:

: information in all sections of this wiki (including the User Manual pages)
: should by policy, and usually will, always reflect the system's current
: production release.

*NOBODY* can guarantee that this is true. Therefore, it gives readers a false
sense that the entire wiki is up-to-date. Yes, I know -- the note
says "should" and "usually" -- but those are just hedge words that, at best,
make the note completely pointless ("we'd like this to be true, but it
isn't"). At worst, readers may not pay adequate attention to the hedge words
and therefore think that the entire wiki is up-to-date.

IMHO, it's better to remove this note entirely or replace it with a note that
more explicitly addresses the uncertainties involved, such as:

"This wiki is an attempt to document the latest MythTV release; however, the
nature of a wiki means that some information may be outdated, particularly
soon after release of a new version of the software. (The latest production
version, MythTV 0.20a, was released on 11 Sep 2006.) Readers may use the wiki
version information tab to check the dates on which specific entries were
made. Contributors to this wiki are encouraged to include relevant MythTV
version information and, where appropriate, Linux distribution, kernel, and
other version information in their entries."

I haven't made such edits myself because I don't want to get into a "wiki
editing battle" over this -- IMHO, it's better to discuss it here and come to
a consensus and THEN make changes to the wiki's front page on this issue.

-- 
Rod Smith
http://www.rodsbooks.com


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