[Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Tom Geller]

Hey, folks. Sorry if this is documented somewhere -- if so, just point me at it. I couldn't find it, though.

I'm a (non-developer) writer with experience in open-source communities, and I'd like to contribute with writing/editing/marketing. What's the procedure? Is there someone in charge of that area?

Two examples:

1) Gavin recently asked for proofreading of 0.9.0rc2, but it was unclear how to send the changes. (There are many possibilities, some better than others. Git? Google Docs with revisioning? Microsoft Word with Track Changes? The Bitcoin wiki?)

2) The page at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BitcoinPayment says that "the wiki receiving wallet (for the wiki itself) is also MtGox". Umm, I rather doubt that. :-P But I'm not sure what the current info is, or whom to alert.

Off-list replies welcome. Thanks,

---
          Tom Geller  *  Oberlin, Ohio  *  415-317-1805
           Writer/Presenter * http://www.tomgeller.com
         articles, marketing, videos, user guides, books

Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Peter Todd]

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On Sun, Mar 02, 2014 at 03:10:09PM -0500, Tom Geller wrote:
> Hey, folks. Sorry if this is documented somewhere -- if so, just point me at it. I couldn't find it, though.
> 
> I'm a (non-developer) writer with experience in open-source communities, and I'd like to contribute with writing/editing/marketing. What's the procedure? Is there someone in charge of that area?
> 
> Two examples:
> 
> 1) Gavin recently asked for proofreading of 0.9.0rc2, but it was unclear how to send the changes. (There are many possibilities, some better than others. Git? Google Docs with revisioning? Microsoft Word with Track Changes? The Bitcoin wiki?)

I proof-read rc1 and simply submitted my changes via pull-req:

    https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3642

I'd say to encourage that method. If someone doesn't know how to use
git, yet still wants to proof-read, just send us a text-file with all
your corrections applied. We've got the tools to diff those changes
ourselves; no fancy software is required.


> 2) The page at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BitcoinPayment says that "the wiki receiving wallet (for the wiki itself) is also MtGox". Umm, I rather doubt that. :-P But I'm not sure what the current info is, or whom to alert.

MtGox does host the bitcoin wiki, so yes, the funds probably do go to a
wallet held by MtGox in some fashion.

-- 
'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org
000000000000000f9102d27cfd61ea9e8bb324593593ca3ce6ba53153ff251b3

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Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Drak]

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On 2 March 2014 20:40, Peter Todd <pete@petertodd.org> wrote:

> I proof-read rc1 and simply submitted my changes via pull-req:
>
>     https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3642
>
> I'd say to encourage that method. If someone doesn't know how to use
> git, yet still wants to proof-read, just send us a text-file with all
> your corrections applied. We've got the tools to diff those changes
> ourselves; no fancy software is required.


Actually, this is unnecessary since github allows editing of files directly
on the site and the it will submit as a pull request. You can even update
by visiting your fork (it creates this automatically and a topic branch)
and make more edits and it will add to your PR. There is basically no
barrier for non techy people to contribute.

Drak

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Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Tom Geller]

Peter Todd <pete@petertodd.org> wrote:
>> I proof-read rc1 and simply submitted my changes via pull-req:
>> 
>>     https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3642

Drak responded:
> Actually, this is unnecessary since github allows editing of files directly on the site and the it will submit as a pull request. You can even update by visiting your fork (it creates this automatically and a topic branch) and make more edits and it will add to your PR. There is basically no barrier for non techy people to contribute.

Ooo, I like this. I *can* use git, but would love to be able to avoid it -- as would most non-technical contributors.

Anyway, this particular solution doesn't appear to be possible in this case, as the file isn't at https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/tree/0.9.0/doc/release-notes , and I don't believe I could copy it to the repository without going the whole git route. Suggestions welcome, here or privately.

Peter writes:
> MtGox does host the bitcoin wiki, so yes, the funds probably do go to a wallet held by MtGox in some fashion.

The foolishness of sending a payment to a Mt. Gox-held wallet -- which is required to edit the wiki -- strikes me as a pressing issue. If I understand it correctly, this is a hard blocker that'll stop *all* new contributors. Further, I registered for the wiki and never got my confirmation email. Methinks the whole thing is broken. :(

Again, please to redirect me if this is inappropriate for this list. (I'm new here.) Cheers,

---
          Tom Geller  *  Oberlin, Ohio  *  415-317-1805
           Writer/Presenter * http://www.tomgeller.com
         articles, marketing, videos, user guides, books

Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Luke-Jr]

On Sunday, March 02, 2014 11:02:14 PM Tom Geller wrote:
> Peter writes:
> > MtGox does host the bitcoin wiki, so yes, the funds probably do go to a
> > wallet held by MtGox in some fashion.
> 
> The foolishness of sending a payment to a Mt. Gox-held wallet -- which is
> required to edit the wiki -- strikes me as a pressing issue. If I
> understand it correctly, this is a hard blocker that'll stop *all* new
> contributors. Further, I registered for the wiki and never got my
> confirmation email. Methinks the whole thing is broken. :(

We've been working on moving the wiki to new hosting, but it isn't a very high 
priority (at least for MtGox). PM SomeoneWeird on IRC, as he is currently 
handling manually approving new accounts for editing.

Luke

Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Wladimir]

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On Mon, Mar 3, 2014 at 12:02 AM, Tom Geller <tom@tomgeller.com> wrote:

> Anyway, this particular solution doesn't appear to be possible in this
> case, as the file isn't at
> https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/tree/0.9.0/doc/release-notes , and I
> don't believe I could copy it to the repository without going the whole git
> route. Suggestions welcome, here or privately.
>

It's not entirely trivial as you have to make sure you're editing on the
0.9 branch not the master branch, but can be done like this:

- Go to https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/0.9.0/doc/release-notes.md
- Click "edit"
- Make your changes and add a commit message describing the change, usually
something like 'doc: Add missing foowidget to release notes'.

Wladimir

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Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Odinn Cyberguerrilla]

Hi, you may want to check this out:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1rh2h0/developers_core_developers_contributors/

Cheers,

-Odinn
 http://abis.io

> Hey, folks. Sorry if this is documented somewhere -- if so, just point me
> at it. I couldn't find it, though.
>
> I'm a (non-developer) writer with experience in open-source communities,
> and I'd like to contribute with writing/editing/marketing. What's the
> procedure? Is there someone in charge of that area?
>
> Two examples:
>
> 1) Gavin recently asked for proofreading of 0.9.0rc2, but it was unclear
> how to send the changes. (There are many possibilities, some better than
> others. Git? Google Docs with revisioning? Microsoft Word with Track
> Changes? The Bitcoin wiki?)
>
> 2) The page at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BitcoinPayment says that "the
> wiki receiving wallet (for the wiki itself) is also MtGox". Umm, I rather
> doubt that. :-P But I'm not sure what the current info is, or whom to
> alert.
>
> Off-list replies welcome. Thanks,
>
> ---
>           Tom Geller  *  Oberlin, Ohio  *  415-317-1805
>            Writer/Presenter * http://www.tomgeller.com
>          articles, marketing, videos, user guides, books
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Flow-based real-time traffic analytics software. Cisco certified tool.
> Monitor traffic, SLAs, QoS, Medianet, WAAS etc. with NetFlow Analyzer
> Customize your own dashboards, set traffic alerts and generate reports.
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> _______________________________________________
> Bitcoin-development mailing list
> Bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development
>

Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Tom Geller]

Thanks to everyone with advice re: editing text on github, and Mt. Gox' control of the wiki. Regarding the latter, "SerajewelKS" and "gmaxwell" in IRC/bitcoin confirmed that fixes are underway, but didn't give specifics. I'll wait.

Regarding text editing, special thanks to Wladimir for the simplest solution:

> - Go to https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/0.9.0/doc/release-notes.md
> - Click "edit"
> - Make your changes and add a commit message describing the change, usually something like 'doc: Add missing foowidget to release notes'.

I'll try to make time to go over the 0.9.0rc2 text soon. Cheers,

---
          Tom Geller  *  Oberlin, Ohio  *  415-317-1805
           Writer/Presenter * http://www.tomgeller.com
         articles, marketing, videos, user guides, books

Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Tom Geller]

FYI, I made my edits to the release notes of 0.9.0rc2; the pull request is at https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3787. I gladly welcome corrections as needed.

First contribution! :)

Cheers,

---
          Tom Geller  *  Oberlin, Ohio  *  415-317-1805
           Writer/Presenter * http://www.tomgeller.com
         articles, marketing, videos, user guides, books

Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Tom Geller]

On Mar 3, 2014, at 2:13 PM, Tom Geller wrote:

> FYI, I made my edits to the release notes of 0.9.0rc2; the pull request is at https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3787. I gladly welcome corrections as needed.

It failed testing. I assume I'll get emails as others add comments; please contact me privately if it doesn't, and you're willing to help this n00b. Thanks, 

---
          Tom Geller  *  Oberlin, Ohio  *  415-317-1805
           Writer/Presenter * http://www.tomgeller.com
         articles, marketing, videos, user guides, books

Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Mike Hearn]

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Hey Tom,

Thanks for getting involved! It's great to see someone who would like to
focus on docs.

One project I've been thinking about recently is a "Bitcoin Developer
Network" subsection of our website. Right now bitcoin.org is entirely
consumer focused. And as you noted, the wiki is undergoing some kind of
heart attack - it's not an ideal medium for professional docs anyway.

So it's too hard to learn how to work with Bitcoin as a developer, and we
could really benefit from professionally curated web content. We have a
great web dev in the form of Saivann, who recently got some sponsorship
from the Foundation to spend time on the website, so I'm hoping that if we
find people to produce the content then he can with the visual design and
we could create something really special.

If you're interested in this let me know.


On Mon, Mar 3, 2014 at 8:40 PM, Tom Geller <tom@tomgeller.com> wrote:

> On Mar 3, 2014, at 2:13 PM, Tom Geller wrote:
>
> > FYI, I made my edits to the release notes of 0.9.0rc2; the pull request
> is at https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3787. I gladly welcome
> corrections as needed.
>
> It failed testing. I assume I'll get emails as others add comments; please
> contact me privately if it doesn't, and you're willing to help this n00b.
> Thanks,
>
> ---
>           Tom Geller  *  Oberlin, Ohio  *  415-317-1805
>            Writer/Presenter * http://www.tomgeller.com
>          articles, marketing, videos, user guides, books
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> _______________________________________________
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> Bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development
>

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Re: [Bitcoin-development] Procedure for non-tech contributions

[Tom Geller]

I'm taking this private. Thanks again to all for your help getting me involved!

---
         Tom Geller  *  Oberlin, Ohio  *  415-317-1805
          Writer/Presenter * http://www.tomgeller.com
        articles, marketing, videos, user guides, books





On Mar 3, 2014, at 4:18 PM, Mike Hearn wrote:

> Hey Tom,
> 
> Thanks for getting involved! It's great to see someone who would like to focus on docs.
> 
> One project I've been thinking about recently is a "Bitcoin Developer Network" subsection of our website. Right now bitcoin.org is entirely consumer focused. And as you noted, the wiki is undergoing some kind of heart attack - it's not an ideal medium for professional docs anyway.
> 
> So it's too hard to learn how to work with Bitcoin as a developer, and we could really benefit from professionally curated web content. We have a great web dev in the form of Saivann, who recently got some sponsorship from the Foundation to spend time on the website, so I'm hoping that if we find people to produce the content then he can with the visual design and we could create something really special.
> 
> If you're interested in this let me know.

[snip remainder of thread]