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RE: [at-l] Time to face FAQs?

I agree that converting some of the information found on both the AT-L and 
the PCT-L to FAQ's is a good idea. I'd also like to see the FAQ's hosted on 
a variety of sites.

I've looked at a number of online forums and have found them difficult to 
used. They required constant going back and forth on multiple pages to 
follow a thread. Because they are tied to discreet messages, I don't think 
forums work well.

FAQ's are generally good because they provide edited feedback. Most FAQ's 
revolve around a single question/answer format. Pulling answers from the 
list would allow a single question to be answered from multiple viewpoints.

There lies the rub. It takes a lot of searching, cutting and pasting to put 
together a good response. Often message contain information on a variety of 
topics intermixed with fluff. To be useful anything not pertaining to the 
topic needs to be cut. Good editing is not an easy task. Plus to be 
effective, each editor would need the entire last three years of messages 
local. Unless you're sitting on a T1 line, I don't think many people would 
find long delays fun or effective.

There's also the question of Text .vs. Web based FAQ's. Personally I like 
the Web based versions better. I'm constantly having to download text based 
FAQ's for to solve on problem or another. Often if I know I'll need it in 
the future, I'll reformat it to make it easier to read. It's bad enough 
having to read Text based FAQ's when you have to. Let alone when you're 
trying to have some fun. The formatting adds little to the file size and 
greatly improves readability.

Then there needs to a good hierarchy in place to allow the user to drill 
down to the needed information. I could probably come up with 3 or 4 
separate FAQ's on the topic of Tyvek alone.

Lastly a good search engine is needed to locate information. When I 
installed linux, I got over a hundred FAQ's on every topic known to man. 
But finding that something I needed that ends up on page 6 of a FAQ whose 
title bears little resemblance to the topic of interest is of little help.

By the way I'd still be glad to help. ALDHA-W website would gladly act as a 
mirror site to host the FAQ's. (www.gorp.com/nonprof/aldhaw just a plug).

Well Ryan can you zip the last three years messages and email them? Just 
send it at night when traffic is low.

Ron "Fallingwater"
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
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Ronald Moak
Black Diamond Software
(503) 642-3359




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