On Fri, 2009-04-17 at 11:13 +0100, Alan Bartlett wrote: > 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. --- ++1 JohnStanley
