Re: [perl] tag is a cruel joke, and user-defined tags don't do ja ck , squat. HELP! How do I use Perl!?

[Ryan Hertz <rhertz@gyb.baits.com>]

At 07:59 PM 6/23/99 , John Armstrong wrote:
>******    message to minivend-users from John Armstrong
<siberian@siberian.org>     ******
>
>Ok everyone, chill out on the flamefest. I am totally not interested 
>in your various political views and other such nonsense. You like 

<snip>  ROFL

>That said, people have a great point. The documentation does suck for 
>the novice user. I remember when I first started with minivend and I 
>banged my head into the wall constantly. Now, I have gleaned enough 
>experience that I understand what minivend wants and how it works. 
>Once that is achieved, the documentation is awesome and really gives 
>you what you need to know, you just have to have enough experience to 
>know what to look for, its a sort of Chicken and Egg thing.

	I'd like to fly a 777, and I read the docs, they sucked.  It wasn't easy
for a novice to understand.  ;-)

<snip>

>If everyone were to compile these emails and snippets of info that 
>they found useful I bet we could have the fine makings of a 'useful 
>FAQ' in it. Yes, they are archived but if we can take the snippets 
>people find useful and cull them into an FAQ format with concepts and 
>code samples it may be much easier to deal with.  By compiling 
>everyone's archived knowledge bases we could really build something 
>easy and useful to work with.
>
>So, I am willing to act as a central repository of such information. 
>Maybe anytime someone has an 'AHA' moment that they saw float through 
>the email list they can send it my way, I can compile them and then 
>forward them onto the documentation project for analysis and 
>inclusion. Its a minimal thing but maybe it could be the start of a 
>truly user built knowledge base that takes into account the actual 
>needs and common questions of users. If this concept sucks or is 
>already being implemented ignore me and post some details on how to 
>contribute in a manner that won't be flamed or ignored.

	Yes, this is in the works - I am collecting these snippets... John, I
believe you can get into the docs list by mailing majorodomo@minivend.com
w/ subscribe minivend-docs in the body (std. majorodomo).

>Keep in mind, Minivend is so huge and so flexible that I doubt it can 
>ever be adequately documented. The options it provides are really 
>limited only by your imagination and skills. Its an incredible, if 
>frustrating at times, product.
>
>Lets turn this into a useful discussion rather then a lame flamefest 
>on the merits of capitalism and the concept of contributions.
>
>Thoughts?
>John-
>
>>******    message to minivend-users from Colocator User
<minivend@twu.net>     ******
>>After around half of the people in the MiniVend world try to shoot me out
>>of the sky for DARING to raise my voice against the piss-poor
>>documentation for this admittedly VERY FINE product? Should I really?
>>People, wake up and smell the coffee-- MiniVend is a solid, good piece of
>>software with documentation that isn't fit for toilet paper. The FAQ could
>>fit on my thumbnail and the documentation has not yet yielded a solution
>>to ANY of the problems of any complexity worth noting that I have had. And
>>the worst part is that you guys are afraid to hear it.

	We all know this, have lived through it, are happy, successful, and are
tired of hearing it.  It isn't the author's responsibility to figure it all
out for you, nor is it OUR responsibility.



Ryan Hertz                                              tel  520-645-3812
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