[mythtv] Development of MythTV

[Kevin Kuphal]

> It's not about ego.  It's about a bunch of people creating a guide on 
> a subject they know nothing about.  Forgive me for caring enough about 
> the project to not want potential developers being fed horse shit.
>
Just a little comment on the subject.  There isn't exactly a place in 
the current MythTV support system for such a guide to exist.  I think 
most would agree that it does not belong in the installation 
documentation and apart from that, it would be based on the desire of 
Isaac to modify/post such content to the offical website.  I think this 
is the reason people see a wiki as a good resource in that it does not 
require a single moderators permission or schedule to be updated.  I 
agree, that without proper community support it could easily devolve 
into a series of bad information.  The same is true for the mailing list 
if someone were to post bad information but it would soon be corrected 
by someone "in the know" as the wiki would/could as it is viewed and 
edited by others.  The other advantage that I think people see is that 
it has more accessibility than a mailing list archive for finding 
information.  The archive is great and a useful tool, but as MythTV 
grows and changes, the archive only gets filled with more and more "bad" 
information as it is based on old or previous versions.  The 
collaborative wiki could easily counteract this as it is edited as new 
information is posted and diseminated.

I think there is a great place in the MythTV realm for all three: 
official installation documentation, collaborative wiki, and mailing 
list each meeting a different need.  I for one have been taking 
information gleaned from list conversations and adding it to the wiki.  
I hope also then there will be people like Jeffrey who will take that 
information, once solidified, and return it to the documentation.   I 
see the three as a circular path.

Users post to the list, asking questions, getting answers that are 
outside the documentation and the wiki.  Wiki users take those gems of 
information and post them to the wiki for easy perusal.  After 
revisions, documentation users take the content and post it back to the 
documentation for inclusion in the offical docs where appropriate.
There have been things bandied about like a Theme editor, a Theme 
how-to, and other documents that maybe are in partial states of 
completion that I could easily see being more quickly turned around to 
the community by living in the wiki and being available for more parties 
to collaborate and provided content.

Well, enough said, just my 2 cents in what I hope was a constructive way 
to express my thoughts on this already well debated subject...

Kevin