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Did you miss your activation email? November 19, 2008, 07:11:14 AM
Did you miss your activation email? November 19, 2008, 07:11:14 AM
SMF Team Blog
Simple Machines Wants You To Help With Documentation!
Greetings to the Simple Machines Community. I would like to reach out to the community here to formally ask for the help of dedicated SMF users who are at all interested in helping to improve the documentation of SMF.
As it current stands the SMF Documentation Team consists of only a few members. As a consequence of limited outside assistance the Documentation Team bears the responsibility of documenting the SMF software by themselves. Occasionally the Documentation Team receives help from other Team Members of SMF, however usually they have their own duties that they need to fulfill so they cannot concentrate extensively on working on SMF documentation.
So what can you do to help?
Well to put it simply...anything!
But to elaborate on what we mean by anything, the following are examples of things you can do to help the Documentation Team:
A great way to start helping is to join the SMF Doc Helper Group on the Online Manual. From there you will be able to help in a slightly more formal environment, and get to meet and work with other SMF enthusiasts who have pledged to help out with documentation. Resources will be made available to helpers as well as the assistance of members of the Simple Machines Team. Helping us with documentation also provides good experience in the field of writing allows you to expand your knowledge of SMF, as well as providing a good opportunity to get to meet and become friends with many of the members of the SMF Team.
To join the Doc Helper Group you simply need to register for an account on the Online Manual and then send an email to us, and being sure to tell us what email address you used to sign up for an account with. You will then be given access to some special resources available to the Doc Helper Group and will be contacted with details with more information about the program.
Please consider helping us with documentation in anyway that you can. Every small contribution in making the Online Manual a more useful place for SMF users is appreciated!
Thanks.
Jack Thorsen, SMF Document Coordinator on behalf of the Simple Machines Documentation Team and the Simple Machines Team.
As it current stands the SMF Documentation Team consists of only a few members. As a consequence of limited outside assistance the Documentation Team bears the responsibility of documenting the SMF software by themselves. Occasionally the Documentation Team receives help from other Team Members of SMF, however usually they have their own duties that they need to fulfill so they cannot concentrate extensively on working on SMF documentation.
So what can you do to help?
Well to put it simply...anything!
But to elaborate on what we mean by anything, the following are examples of things you can do to help the Documentation Team:
- You can proofread documents for something as simple as typos.
- You can look through the documents for any content that is unclear or could use elaboration. Even if you do know what the document is conveying to the reader, you can try reading it as if you are a newcomer to SMF and then try to see if you still think you would understand everything you read. You can either tell us where the unclear fragments are, or if you think you are a decent writer, you can come up with a suggestion of what to change the unclear fragments to.
- You can look for out-of-date documents which need to be updated to help the reader understand the content better.
- You can look through the sections of the Online Manual and find topics of SMF that you think are missing. From there you can make a post on the Online Manual under the Document Requests board suggesting a certain document or documents to be written. You of course could offer a hand in writing an unofficial version of the document that the Documentation Team may be able to take and adapt into an official Online Manual document!
A great way to start helping is to join the SMF Doc Helper Group on the Online Manual. From there you will be able to help in a slightly more formal environment, and get to meet and work with other SMF enthusiasts who have pledged to help out with documentation. Resources will be made available to helpers as well as the assistance of members of the Simple Machines Team. Helping us with documentation also provides good experience in the field of writing allows you to expand your knowledge of SMF, as well as providing a good opportunity to get to meet and become friends with many of the members of the SMF Team.
To join the Doc Helper Group you simply need to register for an account on the Online Manual and then send an email to us, and being sure to tell us what email address you used to sign up for an account with. You will then be given access to some special resources available to the Doc Helper Group and will be contacted with details with more information about the program.
Please consider helping us with documentation in anyway that you can. Every small contribution in making the Online Manual a more useful place for SMF users is appreciated!
Thanks.
Jack Thorsen, SMF Document Coordinator on behalf of the Simple Machines Documentation Team and the Simple Machines Team.
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I wanted to add a little more about the Doc Helper Group.
I run a training center for those who want to learn to write for the manual, where I interact with these users and help them understand the structure and formatting, wording, etc. that the manual currently uses. Users who enter this center have easy access to docs that need to be updated or rewritten and can be assigned to docs if they wish. They also get daily help and attention from me and other members (including SMF team members), so they can ask a million questions and get the help they need to complete what they're working on. I'm there every day, so you will always have someone around to look over your work and help you with it so you arent alone.
I started out in the Helper Group and I had a lot of fun...I still do now as an official Doc Writer. It's been a positive experience for me, and I've taken away some life lessons and skills to help me. I made a lot of new friends, including team members, and now I'm a part of something bigger. I was afraid to try at first, but now I'm glad I did
Not to mention, this would look great on a resume. Employers always look for those who have good writing skills (and we can help you improve those) and like to see some volunteer work on resumes.
i would like to join you as well.
I'm good with typing, I type pretty fast.
If you need helpers, i would like to help you.
Please reply me ASAP.
thanks,
RuneGold
We would love for you to join us
First you need to sign up for an account on the Online Manual
http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php <Register button is up top
When you have done that let me know your username so I can put you on the Help Squad team
Thank you for your interest
Hope to help SMF soonish...
What am I missing?
Should you be missing something?
Hey I'll stick with the site default I think.
I think it is
I would like to join with you.
I also want to work on some language packs.
I really want to help you here.
Please reply me,
With thanks
jazzbrar
Have you signed up to the Online Manual yet? When you have PM me your username and I will get you set up right away!
Thanks for the interest
I am interested in helping with the SMF Online Manual. I could write some docs for mods as well as cool things to do with SMF.
I have registered on the OM and my username is brianjw.
- Brian
Sign up and I will send you a PM which should explain it all
A few quick questions before I go off though, is there a wiki? And, in dealing with my perspective, when people's questions are answered in the help thread, is there opportunity to include it into the manual or make the answer more obvious? I feel that a good manual could be linked to answer most questions (a link to a specific section or such, not just a general link as no one likes to read an entire document to answer a simple question). And, this kind of interface between the manual and the forums ensures better documentation and more volunteers.
FAQ's
There are many FAQ questions that are in demand, however, there is no wiki.
Let me know what your username is on the Online Manual and I will add you to the Help Squad group