Re: Bad Documentation and Linux

[Pro TechWriter <pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Tried to look her up too--there was a man with the same last name, but no
Barbara.

PT

On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 2:02 PM, Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>wrote:

> Also, there doesn't seem to be a Slashdot blogger named Barbara Hudson.
>
> On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
> wrote:
> > She didn't say the stuff she whipped out in two days was good, to the
> contrary:
> >
> > "The only time I've been paid to do GOOD documentation was when it was
> > going to be used to wow investors during the dot-com boom," Slashdot
> > blogger Barbara Hudson told LinuxInsider. "Bosses nowadays don't seem
> > to get that good documentation saves money."
> >
> > Even worse, "when you document something, they don't even read it,
> > even though they should," Hudson added.
> >
> > Case in point: "Last year I spent two days doing 'Complete
> > Documentation -- everything -- and it needs to be ready by Thursday'
> > of the system we were working on," she explained. "123 pages worth,
> > table of contents, footnotes, index, overview, the whole bit."
> >
> > It was a week's worth of work done in two days, Hudson noted, but the
> > result never got read.
> >
> > "Why? 'Oh, it's too big,'" she recounted.
> >
> > On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 10:01 AM, Dana Worley <dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com>
> wrote:
> >> Some interesting comments about Linux documentation (or lack thereof).
> "Is Bad
> >> Documentation Derailing Linux?"
> >>
> >> http://www.technewsworld.com/story/68798.html?wlc=1259948629
> >>
> >> I'm amused by the "they don't even read it" comments. The person says
> she was paid to
> >> create GOOD documentation (her caps, not mine) -- 123 pages in two days.
> I bet my idea of
> >> GOOD and her idea of GOOD are vastly different. I'd probably not read
> the document either
> >> after the first few pages ;)
> >
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