Thread Summary Experiment -- on the Wiki
Last week we were having a discussion about the sort of content that might, or might not belong on the Wiki. I have tried another small experiment that might be a useful approach to augmenting the current boost information. The idea is to build a summary of mailing list discussion threads related to each library (or other topics). Many of the discussion on the mailing list can provide insight into the library design as well as solutions to specific problems not necessarily incorporated in the documentation. I built a small example for the function library. http://www.crystalclearsoftware.com/cgi-bin/boost_wiki/wiki.pl?Function_Libr... -_Mail_Thread_Summary I have used the following convention for this: -- Order the thread names by date -- Title of the thread is either the email title, or a more precise title followed by the original thread title in parens The link performs a search that returns all the items in the thread from the yahoo groups site. One problem is that since the search is full text, some threads cannot be easily retrieved. For example searching "function review" will return a pile of email on threads and other topics unrelated to function. Despite the issues, this would seem to me this would be a useful contribution library users could build. Thoughts? Jeff
Last week we were having a discussion about the sort of content that might, or might not belong on the Wiki. I have tried another small experiment that might be a useful approach to augmenting the current boost information.
The idea is to build a summary of mailing list discussion threads related to each library (or other topics). Many of the discussion on the mailing list can provide insight into the library design as well as solutions to specific problems not necessarily incorporated in the documentation.
I built a small example for the function library.
http://www.crystalclearsoftware.com/cgi-bin/boost_wiki/wiki.pl?Function_Libr ary_
-_Mail_Thread_Summary
Absolutely excellent, Jeff. EXACTLY the sort of useful content I was hoping for. How difficult was it to put together (those search links etc), because when more users and developers add topics like that, the wiki will be a mine of information. Effectively it can intelligently categorise, edit and comment on existing mailing list pearls of wisdom as well as adding new user experiences. Once again, good work Paul Baxter
Paul Baxter wrote:
EXACTLY the sort of useful content I was hoping for.
Good!
How difficult was it to put together (those search links etc), because when more users and developers add topics like that, the wiki will be a mine of information.
Unfortunately, it a bit of a pain, but with a few eyes and hands nice summaries could be created quickly. Putting in an entry is mostly cut and paste from several browser windows (eg: run a search or the archive in one window, copy the resulting URL and paste it into the Wiki editing window). The required syntax to make a nice entry is a bit ugly as well. More time consuming is the searching and scanning of the mailing list for a topic and then perhaps reading parts of the thread to see if the content is appropriate, the title is a good summary, etc. Jeff
participants (2)
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Jeff Garland
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Paul Baxter