> Yes, the shape of the curve is pretty clear --- it's already not
> possible for the key developers to respond to everything, and that'll
> get worse. We have to start thinking about ways to spread out the load
> better.
I used to keep stuff in emails in mailbox until I saw someone reply,
then I would delete it from my mailbox. Now, in the morning, when I
have lots of emails, I can easily see if no one has replied and try to
answer it.
> Aside from persuading more people to spend time answering email
> questions, I agree we need to work harder on making answers findable
> outside the mailing lists. Improving the docs, making the mail archives
> more easily searchable, etc etc. I dunno if an "annotated manual" would
> help --- I've never used one --- but if people want to try one, it can't
> hurt. The main problem is to get the work done. We need volunteers to
> actually do some of these things, not just suggest them ...
I will say that the FAQ and my book have visibly reduced the number of
questions. When I put something on the FAQ, the questions about that
topic just magically go away. I know lots of lists have the RTFM reply,
but in our case, it seems they do read the FAQ pretty thoroughly, so it
really cuts things down. One goal of my book was to explain how all the
PostgreSQL features fit together, and having it online allows people to
get that information right away.
That means we are pretty much left with _good_ questions that don't have
easy answers. Mutlibyte support, Java, can't compile, stuff like that.
The easy stuff is pretty much gone because people are really using the
resources we provide.
--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 853-3000
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue
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