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• Launchpad Entry: forum-content-certification

Summary

Design a forum team that would review forum posts that are instructional in nature and check validity of instructions. The team would also be charged with promoting and marketing these approved instructions in the forum and the Ubuntu community as a whole. This would act as a enhancement to the existing Tips & Tutorials section on the Ubuntu Forums

Rationale

The Ubuntu Forums has a wealth of useful posts that sometimes gets lost in the large number of forum posts made daily. A group of volunteers or official team needs to be found to review, approve, and promote these posts

Use Cases

Forum user notatroll posts a way to easily install to a popular piece of software that is not found in the Ubuntu repositories.

Forum user Exwhyzed maintains a useful MadWiFi HOWTO for Gutsy.

Assumptions

• Any team would have to be approved by the Forums Council and work with the documentation team. (Only if it's necessary to be a official "team". One could just work with the doc team . -C.Kontros)

Design

Implementation

• Create a small team of people who care about this issue who will work with the Documentation Team.
• Promote/showcase the forums in the forums. Share the information in the post with other community resources (wiki, The Fridge, etc...)
• Approve the forum post.

• Use the rating system in the "Tutorials & Tips" to identify the "low hanging fruit". Go through the easily identifiable ones first then move on to the rest. (looks to be about 500)

• Check the validity of the instructions. This may require talking to the MOTU team or other Ubuntu Developers to make sure the instructions do not "break" the Ubuntu install.
• Contact the author to make sure they want their HOWTO on the WIKI and if it is a "evolutionary HOWTO". ie: Is or isn't it tied to a single release? Will they continue to maintain it if it moves to the WIKI?

• Move reviewed/approved HOWTOs to the Community Documentation WIKI first.

• Re-check posts after every Ubuntu release to see if they are needed (software is packaged in Ubuntu now), or how software is installed has changed.
• Documentation from the community WIKI that is reviewed/approved by the Doc team and tied to a specific release could then be moved into the "Official" documentation sections. At which time the Doc team would take over the info.

Outstanding Issues

• Users might not want their info on the WIKI.

BoF agenda and discussion

Comments/Questions

• Does this team really need to be part of a "forum team"? Should this team really promote or discourage anything? -C.Kontros (_MMA_)

• In light of "this issue" I think this is a good idea. After reading about the malicious forum behaviour I came up with an idea for a "seal of approval" trust system, I was unaware of this initiative at the time. See: "http://crunchbang.org/archives/2007/11/28/malicious-linux-instructions/" A trust system could reduce the amount of administration needed. Would this work in combination? - PhilipNewborough