I just tried to become a documentation contributor. Here's what I experienced while trying to get my name added to the list of authorized editors.

I found a link to a page called "Contributing to the handbook" while reading the forums. I think the link was in Steven Peck's sig. I'm not sure, but that's irrelevant. When I clicked the link, I was shown a page that laid out the responsibilities of documentation contributors, the needs of drupal.org, and several other things.

In the third paragraph of this same page is the link my eyes spotted right away as I was scanning the page. It's titled "joining the documentation team". I had hoped that this link might take me to a button I could click to add my name to the Handbook Moderators privileges, or maybe a simple form that requested a few small details from me before allowing me access to edit documentation nodes. Alas, I was wrong.

I clicked the joining the documentation team link, and I was shown a two-page list of what appeared to be mailing lists. Mailing lists? I don't want to sign up for mailing lists. I want to become a Documentation Editor?

Do you see how I became stymied at this point? I am still not an editor, but I have no idea where to go from here.

One last thing I need to point out. Even after arriving on the Mailing Lists page, I scanned down to the fourth heading, entitled "Documentation". Indeed! I may be onto something! Nope. There is nothing I can click on that signs me up to anything. I can't even "join a list". The only three choices I see are:

  • View archive
  • Search archive
  • Mailman page

Nothing looks like what I, as a user, am looking for.
--
Joel Farris

Comments

senpai’s picture

senpai commented

The link I posted above has now disappeared; sucked into the vastness of cyberspace. http://drupal.org/mailinglists is no longer. I'm now even more lost than before.

vm’s picture

vm commented
Project: » Documentation
Component: usability » Misc

changing the issue from being filed against User experience to Documentation project so that it can be looked at.

vm’s picture

vm commented

the link should actually lead to drupal.org/mailing-lists

it may help to place a link to the node those paragraphs came from I can't find them, I can only find. http://drupal.org/contribute/documentation

vm’s picture

vm commented

you can subscribe to the documentation team by clicking on the mailmanpage and filling out the form.

senpai’s picture

senpai commented

I can no longer locate the node that the drupal.org/mailinglists link was found on. http://drupal.org/node/23743 was the node that I thought I was viewing, but unless someone's changed that node to something completely different, I can't find the link. I sure hope that nobody changed node 23743 into something else.

FYI, yes I am subscribed to the mailinglist. I finally figured out how to do it. ;-)

karldied’s picture

karldied commented
Assigned: Unassigned » karldied
Status: Active » Closed (duplicate)

@VeryMisunderstood: Thanks for moving the issue over to doc; that's why I didn't see it earlier (originally filed Jan 10).

@Joel Farris: I'll take the blame for the link confusion; yes, 23743 has been updated (the first two paragraphs were moved to 24572). I've been working on the contributing documentation since joining the team as it left me wandering as well. Bottom line: see http://drupal.org/node/23367, Joining the doc team. It would be great to have more help.

Recent updates:

23743 - Handbooks overview
Was: Contributing to the handbook (prior to 1/11)

24572 - Contributing to documentation
Was: Requests for new documentation and reporting documentation problems (prior to 1/11)

23367 - Joining the documentation team
Was: spelling guidelines (prior to 1/12; spelling moved to style guide)

drupal.org/contribute/documentation - Helping with documentation
Issue "Duplicate/conflicting information on contributing to documentation" (http://drupal.org/node/110955) is in to unpublish this page, and have the contribute tab (http://drupal.org/contribute) point straight to 24572.

Discussion: When material is re-organized, it is always a question: What will disrupt existing links the least? Should the material be moved to the page with the right title, or should the title be changed to match the bulk of the material? I chose the latter for 23743 and 24572. In any case, both pages are all part of About Drupal documentation and nearby each other in the book. (Others: chime in if guidance should be spelled out in Documentation writer's guide. Or if page contents for 23743 and 24572 should be swapped.)

Right now, "Joining the doc team" is a child page of "Contributing to documentation" and is linked, but it could be more obvious.

I'm setting this issue as a duplicate of node/110955.