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RE: New User Comments
****** message to minivend-users from "Thompson-Jordan" <Thompson-Jordan@mindspring.com> ******
> From: Barry Treahy
>
> For what is worth Ross, there has been a lot of discussion
> about the documentation and there
> is on on-going project in the works for a rewrite. As for
> simple vs complex, I believe it is
> relative. I had very little difficulty getting the sample
> 'simple' database up and running.
I agree. I think the proposed "simplest" demo is intended for two groups:
those who are not experienced computer users and those who know that the
catalog they want to implement is very basic. I you are an experienced
with operating systems, web servers, databases and programming languages
then the current "simple" demo is probably more appropriate because is
show most features.
> Where I experienced a few bruises was in the customizing of the
> system to relate to my
> companies needs and several people on the list have been of
> tremendous help. Yes, I believe
> that better documentation would have reduced the number of past
> and present bruises.
I hope that will prove true.
> If there is one void, it has to be that if the members of the
> list can't answer the questions
> posted, they often go unanswered. The 'keeper-of-the-keys',
> obviously can't be all to
> everyone and yes this can be very frustrating to have questions
> that are very important to
> you go unanswered, but this is not a commercially supported
> product. I sometimes forget that
> myself and get irritated, but hopefully I cool off before I
> press the SEND button...
I think part of the problem is that when a question is asked where I don't
know the answer immediately, I wait for others who might know to answer.
Then more questions pile in and I don't track if others questions are
answered unless I have the same question. I think most people do the same
as I do. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the question asker to
follow up.
A while back I proposed marking the title of messages so that the answers
to questions were easy to find when reading the list, searching the
archive and by the documentation people. A solution was indicated by
adding something like "(Solved)" to the end of the subject line. This fell
apart quickly, I think, because a people would respond with what they
thought was the answer, but it was not, so "(Not Solved)" would get added
and then it would devolve into a big mess.
So here is another proposal, with an addition to help with what Barry
mentioned. ONLY the person who asked the question should mark a question
as answered with "(Solved)". So if you get an answer to your question,
post the answer with "(Solved)" appended to the subject line.
For questions that get no answer, how about if you resubmit them with
"(Resubmitted: No Answer)" or something like that appended to the subject
line. Then those who didn't know the answer the first time, when they see
the question resubmitted, will (in theory) suggest any ideas they might
have, where to look, or ways to approach solving it. I guess you could
then go to "(Resubmitted: Still No Answer)" for the third time around :-).
Christopher Thompson
> Barry
>
> Ross Olson wrote:
>
> > ****** message to minivend-users from "Ross Olson"
> <rosso@exactimaging.com> ******
> >
> > Hey ho,
> >
> > I'm a new user of the MiniVend System, and I just wanted to make a few
> > comments about the product and the documentation:
> >
> > 1) The "Simple Template" is Not simple for new users. I'd call it the
> > "Intermediate" template and create an actual simple template that: has
> > fields for SKU, Product Name, Description and Price; would have far
> > fewer pages to reconfigure and a step-by-step in the documentation for
> > customizing the simple sample.
> >
> > 2) The Documentation could desperately use a 1 to 10 step-by-step
> > instructions of getting the first sample installed. There's
> the start of
> > such a section in the QuickStart, but it quickly degrades into a
> > discussion of diff and such, but never clearly states:
> >
> > Step 1) Run makecat
> > Step 2) Modify the files in (location 1) (location 2)
> (Locations 3)
> > Step 3) View the URL (address) in your browser
> >
> > 3) The restart program doesn't run well on my Solaris box, but I'm not
> > sure why. For some reason I need to copy and paste the SU command
> > directly into the command line. The restart's program version doesn't
> > run right.
> >
> > I don't have much experience with Solaris, so I'm sure I'm stumbling
> > over some newbie problems right there, but please don't discount my
> > suggestions off-hand because of that.
> >
> > I'm glad to see that the mailing list discusses some
> reasonably advanced
> > topics, but as a new user, I'm a bit intimidated. :P Hopefully the
> > learning curve is starting to flatten out a bit for me.
> >
> > ...Ross...
> >
> > ___________________________________________
> rosso@exactinteractive.com _____
> >
> > Exact Interactive: http://www.exactinteractive.com/
> > XSSI Library: http://www.powertalk.com/~rosso/xssi/
> > Browser Black List: http://www.powertalk.com/~rosso/browserblacklist/
> > -
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