From: Douglas Livingstone <rampant@...>
Date: 2005-01-21T10:58:50+09:00
Subject: Re: Best ways to accelerate Ruby's popularity

> For example, if I'm clicking around a site, and the style suddenly
> changes, I may think I've gone to another site.

Which is what is happening at the moment, lots of sites which are hard
for a new user to keep track of.

> But there is nothing to stop anyone from exploiting this conferred trust
> by making a site that looks just like an "official" Ruby site.

This argument applies to banks, not manuals.

> look or be "official."

Would it be right to say that you are more against having a
distinction between "official" and "unofficial" web sites rather than
against the idea of bringing the documentation available closer
together?

> Trust and authority are certainly elements of a user's concerns, but I'm
> skeptical that these are among the main issues, for most users, with the
> current set of Ruby sites.

Less "authority" and more "confidence". I can't talk for mst users,
but for me I'd like the confidence to say "That there is the Ruby
documentation." That is a main issue. Can't we apply the "fun to use"
principle to the documentation *and* the language itself?

Douglas