[CentOS-docs] Authorship and Attribution

Fri Apr 17 15:27:23 UTC 2009
JohnS <jses27 at gmail.com>

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.
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++1

JohnStanley