Re: (beta2) WANTED: Linux Knowledge Base Org. Developers

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

> > am i counted in that 7? i'm not very dedicated, i'm afraid..
> 
> Nope.  Only people listed on dev.linuxkb.org:81/about.html are counted.

Ah, but pete's in that list. I recommend moving to 6. :)
 
> > authoring?
> 
> People will be writing articles via our site, no?

I haven't been keeping up with the goals here. Is your goal
to let people work on the base documents on your website, or
simply to index them well and let people add comments. Are
you hoping that the comments they add will be as useful as the
base documents? You're going to have to filter comments a
*lot*, then...(but I guess that's your plan.)
 
> > The most important thing you're missing here is that this is designed
> > to be totally free. no banner ads, no nothing. also, you might want to
> 
> That's in the URL, but I think we should mention our license in the email.

I'm scared away by the mention of a new license. You say in the url,
"guarantees that the content of our site will remain free for anyone
to use, modify, and redistribute." I immediately think "isn't that
why the gpl and opl were developed? Why did these guys want to change
those? What's the catch?"

I think mentioning that all the content is designed to be free, and
also that the site is built and maintained entirely by volunteers for
free and with no banner pages, both deserve to get mentioned in the
mail itself. That's precisely why people should care about you enough
to read your url and/or volunteer. Not your claims that you'll be the
next big knowledge base site. Everybody claims that.
 
> > mention supported/encouraged by VA Research, to show that you're not
> > some fly-by-night place, but that's a little more sketchy.
> 
> I don't mention any sponsors by name, but I mention the sponsors as a
> group and what their contributions have been.  Again, in the URL.

this can stay in the url, agreed.
 
> > you *need* to point out the difference between linuxkb.org and cheek,
> > though you need to not mention cheek. let people draw their own conclusions
> > on what the differences are.
> 
> See the URL. :-)

everybody will discount your mail (and never load the url) if it
looks like commercial hype. be careful. make it clear you're from
and for the linux community.
 
> http://dev.linuxkb.org:81/developers.html
> 
> I'll be posting a new version of this in by 1pm PDT today.  I'm trying to
> make some of the wording clearer and more concise.
> 
> Later...
 
--Roger