Coming a little late to this discussion, take the example of the three kernel related HowTos. Each article begins with a "Currently maintained by: AlanBartlett and AkemiYagi" line. Akemi & I discussed this some time ago and decided to insert those lines for two reasons: (1) to give clear information to a user of those pages if the user should require assistance (2) to provide knowledge to others -- who otherwise may feel inclined to edit those pages -- who to contact and discuss matters with. The second point is related to Johnny Hughes' comments, referred to by Akemi, above. In the case of a relatively complex situation -- the kernel articles -- ad hoc editing by anyone should not take place. So I would like to suggest the following: If the writer of an article wishes to be acknowledged, insert a "Author: name" line at the begining of it. One example of this technique, that currently comes to my mind, is the Java page -- where Russ Herrold states his authorship of the "simpler method". If an article has a maintainer, to whom user comments and other suggestions should be directed, a "Currently maintained by: name" should be inserted at its head. Now to address the original cause of this discussion. I have no problem at all in anyone documenting my thoughts / comments / off-the-cuff advice. What I don't like is to be set up as the recipient of queries that arises from that documentation. Phil did a very good job in precisely writing up a synopses of my assistance to the OP of a forum thread and began it with the (unnecessary but generous) credit to me. In my polishing of that page, I added an "Author: PhilSchaffner" line. Next Akemi, unaware of the private e-mail from me to Phil, promptly re-edited it to insert a "Maintained by: AlanBartlett" line. Accordingly, I then removed all of that introductory information and privately let Akemi know of my feelings on the subject. Alan.
