RobGravesCuriousQuestions

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This is where I would like to post my curious questions about Wiki and other things that seem relevent.

Please feel free to answere with "see FAQ", see WikiPageX?, or edit in an answer. If you leave a name I will check out your homepage as a way of getting to know people.

Feel free to edit any bad spelling if it annoys you. RobGraves

Tue 17 Feb 2004

Is is cool for me to do this, yes and make an OnlineDiary here? definitely yes If yes what CategoryCategory should I put at the bottom?

Wed 18 Feb 2004

How many people aproximately are active here?

We have ~100 unique IPs hit RecentChanges a day, something like 300 to the site as a total. Over the week, triple that roughly. The TeethToTailRatio of readers to writers is rougly 10:1 for a site like this. The most active writers are the square root of the total number of writers (there's a theorem that proves this). -- SunirShah

Are most active members computer programmers by trade?

Well, GluePeople has something to say about this - we sit on the borderline between hacking and sociology, which is quite a pleasant place to be. But yes, programming is my trade. But for how long? --MartinHarper

Now allergic to engineeringinging, I'm a post-modernist by trade. Can I mow your lawn for $5? -- SunirShah

Wed 27 Feb 2004

How long should I wait, lurk, and learn before having a crack at refactoring a page? There are no hard fast rules, but I would give yourself a couple of weeks of *lurking* before trying to refactor a page. My way of becoming a part of a community is through service. I am also aware that sitting on the edge is also important. Is it cool for me to tell other "non-hacker" community workers about this site?

Well, the goal isn't to refactor, but increase clarity. If you can see a place that needs to be clearer, go for it. The worst that can happen is that you reinspire an old discussion. ;) Yes, please do invite them. The nature of the site is whoever happens to be here, +/- inertia. -- SunirShah

What i am feeling for is some thoughts on how ownership and hospitality works here.

: Hospitality is generally very good. Anything you write is deemed part of the collective space, and may be commented on, altered, or simply removed, though usually with a comment in the edit log (or often your home-page). Problems seem to be caused by people taking offence at this use of their text. -- ChrisPurcell

: I've found that refactoring is much harder than it looks. I lurked for monthes before trying my hand at it, but that's not strictly necessary. When you feel ready to give it a try, do a single page, then wait for a while. The worst that will happen is that someone will undo your change, and explain why. -- StephenGilbert

How many thoughts? We have lots of text on that! As general advice for entering any new space is to do one new thing at a time, but have courage to act, so just keep going. Be confident that we're actively interested in you, so we'll help where possible. As Chris says, problems occur when people mistake what we consider to be help in good faith with attacks on dignity. -- SunirShah

You could browse through MeatBall:back=CategoryReworking, which might give you a bit of inspiration... but I found it was easiest to learn good reworking by doing. Slowly to start with - not particularly because you might mess something up, but because you need to build your confidence. Confident reworkers are better than nervous reworkers, because they don't leave ReworkingNotes? behind.

OKAY.... I will do this RobGraves

Thank you people for answering these questions.... I have an active learning style

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RobGraves -- Sat Sep 24 04:06:12 2011

Now its 20111..... still learning. Thanks for teaching me so much.