[uf-discuss] Idea: beginners/getting started list

[Joe Andrieu]

Chris Messina wrote:

> So what if we changed the definition of -dev to:
> 
> * microformats-dev: This is a public list for discussion of 
> implementating microformats. Unmoderated, open subscription.
> 
> If there were to be a new list, perhaps we call it:
> 
> * microformats-suggest: This is a public list for proposing 
> new microformats that have gone through the process [2]. 
> Unmoderated, open subscription.
> 
> Once a format has been vetted (briefly) on the "suggest" list 
> ("propose"), it could be moved to -discuss and then -dev. 
> That way we funnel all the new proposals to -suggest and 
> leave the -discuss list for talking about the existing 
> formats -- and -dev for actually *working with* microformats.

I think there is value in having a distinction between using uF in HTML and
writing javascript/java/perl/XSLT/c++ code that uses uF.  *Working with*
microformats seems to fit two fairly different user groups. Most people
aren't writing parsers, they are writing HTML (or even just using tools that
write it for them).  Or at least, that's what "humans first" means to me. If
we want to reach out to the average web developer or power-user, something
like microformats-use seems to make a lot of sense.  *working with*
microformats seems to fit two fairly different user groups.

Also, it seems that a "suggest" list could both start earlier in the uF
process and shephard all the way through to adoption (or abandonment).  If
"suggest" requires uF to already have gone through the process, where do
people go to learn and get help on how to create a new uF?  Seems a
continuous conversation from "Hey, I have an idea" to "Proposal" makes sense
to be its own list.  That would handle both the first RTFM response of
"Follow the process" as well as all the interim queries of, "Hey, I put X on
the Wiki. How does that look?"  Hence new uFs start in microformats-create
until they are ready for proposal to the main list (microformats-discuss).

That's what seems to make sense to me, at any rate. Although it is perhaps a
bit risky to start two new lists at once.

-j
--
Joe Andrieu
joe at andrieu.net
+1 (805) 705-8651