Re: Page Numbering Hell

[Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>]

Boštjan Vesnicer wrote:

> for me it is actually very obvious an easy to understand the situation
> about missing documentation. In my opinion there are a couple of
> reasons for that:
> - The gurus don't have time to write the documentation since they have
> more important things to do, i.e. implementing features.

indeed; and since we also have to make a living, sometimes demands of 
projects get priority

> - Documentation (in a form of a manual) is of the most value to the
> newbies, but they can't write a manual by themselves about something
> they dont't know much about. So they ask for the documentation on the
> mailing list, but they eventually find out that the up-to-date
> documentation is missing and they start to use other sources of
> information (wiki, mailing list, source code etc.). They learn slowly,
> but at the end (if they persist long enough) they know enough that
> they maybe could write a manual. However, they don't really need the
> manual any more so they decide not to write one. (Paradoxical
> situation, I know.)

good point ... also, writing a manual helps oncovering inconsistencies; 
a variant on manuals is writing articles (e.f. for tex user group 
magazines)

> - The key is in the motivation. If you want better documentation, you
> have to figure out how to convince the gurus to write one.

Hans

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