[mapserver-users] Re: user support

[Milo van der Linden]

Frank Warmerdam schreef:
> Milo van der Linden wrote:
>> Next thing I was wondering about was if it was possible to rate 
>> answers. And if it would be possible to easily transform answers into 
>> documentation. But I haven't found a real solution yet.
>
> Milo,
>
> I think it would be very valuable if some people were willing to comb
> the mailing list for frequently asked questions and answers and turn
> some of them into FAQ entries on the plone site.
If this would be done in a divide and conquer manner, I would be 
interested. It would be a good thing if one could take a seat in some 
sort of board and cover a certain aspect. I would be particulary 
interested in contributing to WMS and WFS sections, as well as postGIS 
integration since this is the area I am trying to make my business in. 
Would it be possible that in return the person maintaining a certain 
area of the documentation could offer commercial support and consultancy 
on his particular field of expertise? Just a taught and trying to 
discover if there is business value in signing up for this. Because in 
the long run, we all need to make at least enough money to live.
>
> I'm bad at writing FAQs because I always write FAQs for the questions
> I wish people would ask, instead of the ones they do ask.  :-(  
Hahaha! You gave me a good laugh with this one! I recognize the dillema.

> But
> someone interested in spending a couple hours contributing to the
> MapServer world could review a few weeks email traffic, and pick out
> a couple common questions with good answers and digest it into FAQs
> to list at:
>
>   http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/docs/faq
I hereby offer my couple of hours. Would it be an idea to set up a group 
of say 100 people and then divide the list in blocks of say a month?
>
> The answers might even include pointers back into the discussion
> threads on the mailing list for additional details.  For those not
> wanting to contact Howard for Plone update access, I would even
> be willing to add FAQs on their behalf if carefully prepared.
> Though getting and using update access to the mapserver site is quite
> easy and additional contributors are welcome!
>
> I also wonder if the FAQ list ought to be featured a bit more
> prominently on the web site.  I was surprised to discover they are
> categorized if you go to the full faq list. I normally just see
> them in this view:
>
>   http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/docs
>
> Best regards,