Re: really attracting developers

[MJ Ray]

"Nikolaus Waxweiler" <madleser@gmx.de>
> Yes, I noticed the global page protection already and am still waiting for  
> write-access. Other methods for fighting spam bots, like captcha codes on  
> registration (or maybe on every edit), should lower the entry bar enough  
> to get more people to contribute.

CAPTCHAs would lock more people out: http://www.w3.org/TR/turingtest/

> And please, "strange markup" is no  
> argument, Mediawiki's markup is quite simple and there are quick  
> references if you need them.

Mediawiki's markup is not html (known by web authors), not autogsdoc or
texinfo (used for current GS docs) and not wiki TextFormattingRules.
Having to keep open a quick-reference guide is a poor substitute.

> > The web API documentation is currently synchronised.
> No, not really. Just look at http://mediawiki.gnustep.org/index.php/AppKit  
> and http://mediawiki.gnustep.org/index.php/Foundation. They consist mostly  
> of red links.

By 'The web API documentation', I meant the copies on www.gnustep.org -
I have no access to mediawiki.gnustep.org and think it requires human
copy-paste to update.

> > It seems like it could be fairly easy make the main site searchable
> > without search engines, if that's something which people want.  It's
> > just not been a terribly high priority.
> Maybe, but it would be easier to just have everything in the same place.

So let's kill mediawiki and the appdb and start them again as parts of www.

[...]
> > Then, there aren't enough easy-to-use practical guides to creating new
> > applications for either gnustep users getting started with development,
> > or non-obJC developers from other systems (Perl, Python, Ruby,
> > Lisps..., or the distribution packagers) looking to help GNUstep.
> There are several introductory guides and even a few videos iirc. If  
> newbies or developers want a more in-depth look at GNUstep, they can get  
> Cocoa books.

Yes, there are some guides and videos, but not *enough* for new
user-developers and particularly not enough for other system developers.
Referring them to Cocoa books seems unhelpful: GNUstep doesn't implement
it all and some things are done different.

-- 
MJR/slef