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Discussion on: What developer products/tools should exist, but don't?

 
chasm profile image
Charles F. Munat

What is the relevance of your comment? Did I say that devs are cheerleaders for bad documentation? I'm not seeing it in my comment.

I'm pretty sure that what I said is that a lot of OSS devs spend a significant amount of time and effort trying to convince people to use their "free" and wonderful software, but can't be arsed to check that their documentation makes that anything other than an exercise in futility. "Free" my ass.

I have personally lost thousands of hours struggling to make various OSS packages work when one or two lines of text in the documentation could have saved me the trouble. The disrespect is astonishing.

Anyone and everyone who uses OSS software regularly knows what I'm talking about. Not sure what planet you hail from.

So what exactly is your point?

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drhyde profile image
David Cantrell

Was it not you who said "What surprises me is how many devs are cheerleaders for the status quo and bad documentation" then? Seems like you need to change your password because someone else logged in and posted that foolishness as you.

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chasm profile image
Charles F. Munat

Well, you got me there. That said, I did not mean it the way you interpreted it, but I can see how you did.

Put more carefully, a lot of devs are eager to defend the status quo and overlook bad documentation. In that respect, they are definitely cheerleaders for the status quo, and effectively for bad documentation, although they almost certainly don't see it that way.

Maybe a little less literal in your interpretations? I note, too, that you do not acknowledge or bemoan the pathetic state of most OSS documentation, but merely attack the messenger. Should I read that as you like or at least don't mind bad documentation?