I've seen at least one successful site (www.jekai.org)
come up very fast with mailed-in submissions and
hand-editing of raw, seething HTML. I think this
could apply to developing a FAQ, too.
Having an email template helped a lot, though, for
jeKai. And it could lend itself to some quick-and-
dirty automation. Here's a draft of a submission
template for the KEITAI-L FAQ.
Suggestions welcome.
(The "*" indicates "optional.")
-------------------
Question:
*Question archive link:
*Answer:
...
*Answer archive link(s):
*Keyword(s):
*Category/ies:
*Next Review Date:
*Copyright holder:
*Copyright conditions:
*Copyright link:
--------------------
NOTES:
Yes, only "Question" is mandatory. Never think
"that's too dumb." Check the various FAQs first,
of course, then send it to us even if you still think
it's too dumb. If we don't know the answer, or if
we want someone else to write it, we'll send it to
the list. Nobody will need to know what a clueless
newbie you are. Remember, *I'm* the dumbest
person on KEITAI-L, because I signed up to do all
this FAQing work, and I don't know how to download
a Hello Kitty screensaver. How could *you* even
come close?
The "Question/Answer archive link(s)" are links
(if any) into the KEITAI-L archive. Link to the
question if there has been no answer yet, and to
the first answer in the thread otherwise. Also, if
you come across an answer that wants to meet a
cute, marriagable question, please introduce us.
"Next Review Date" is for answers to questions like
"When is the ultra-hyper-m747iActiveX keitai
coming out?!?!" so that when the announced product
release date passes, the entry can be replaced with
disappointing entries about the actual product. (If the
date is in the submitted answer somewhere, we'll
figure it out.) There is little or no timeless wisdom in this
area, so we'll probably just use "six months from now" as
the default.
"Copyright holder" should be a person or company name.
The default will be your name as it appears on keitai-l.
"Copyright conditions" should be something like "copy
freely, as long as the copy bears this notice", or "all rights
reserved" or "used by permission" or (my favorite) "....so
don't even think about it." (A reasonable default should be
worked out and stated in the template; see earlier mail.)
I think you can even leave this blank, but do your own
reading about copyright if you want to be sure.
Copyright conditions apply only to a supplied answer, of
course, not to the question or the submitted entry as
a whole.
DO NOT SEND ANYTHING THAT ANYONE ELSE MAY
HOLD COPYRIGHT TO, WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION. If
it were up to me, you'd be barred from the list, and
the copyright-holder would be informed. Mika might
be nicer, I don't know.
"Copyright link" should be a URL.
"Keywords"? "Categories"? For the time being, just make
something up. Or leave them blank. We'll figure it out. No
obscenities please. "Hated"? Well, OK.
-m
leap@gol.com
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Tue Mar 27 15:10:00 2001