On 23 Nov 1992 00:49:59 GMT [log in to unmask] (Eric Thomas) said:
...
>Volunteers are wanted to help building a comprehensive, powerful, easy to
>use and  innovative documentation tool  for LISTSERV based on  gopher and
>the LISTSERV database  functions. Only moderate knowledge  of LISTSERV is
>required for  the bulk of  the work  ("task 1" below).  Contributions are
 
>Description
>-----------
>...
>incorrect or incomplete. The users want "safe", "official" answers.
 
Good idea!
FAQ files aren't much use at any level, imho.
 
 
>The project  is to have  a number  of independent groups  extract answers
>from the  list archives  and consolidate them  into comprehensive,  up to
>date and accurate  "answer sheets" which will then be  made available via
>gopher in  the usual tree-based  fashion.
 
Oh shoot!  For a moment I thought LISTSERV was going to develop
"gopher" capabilities...  :-/
 
>                                           The  "credo" of the project is
>that, if this tree structure is  made intuitive enough, users will easily
>find the  information they are  looking for in  little more time  than it
>would take them to  send mail to user support or to a  mailing list - and
>they may find answers to other things  they were curious about on the way
>down the tree.
 
More likely distracted so much they forget their original reason...
A simple tree structure won't be enough, methinks.  Cross-indexing
would be much appreciated.
 
 
>The  editors  simply  edit  the files  and  identify  question-and-answer
>sequences. The original  question is extracted from the  posting in which
>it first  appeared, with  the name  of the poster  removed and  '>' signs
>placed in  column 1. The 'Date:'  and 'Subject:' fields of  that original
>posting  are kept,  and  the editor  changes  the subject  if  it is  not
 
Subject-changing only after all answers have been found, of course?
 
 
Regards.
$$/