[REBOL] More REBOL/Zine
From: jeff:rebol at: 8-Jun-2001 8:46
Subscription problems:
Phew.. okay, so sorry about the dopey dns check, was just
over zealous while putting together the little subscriber
bot. I authenticated anyone who was in the unauthenticated
list previously, so if you entered your stuff last night, no
need to go back and enter the code. I only put that code
system in there as a precaution to keep people from abusing
the system.
Petr suggests that there are other existing projects that
should be worked on instead:
True. I'm just usually swamped with work, but one thing
that really motivates me is a deadline. With the Zine, the
presses will roll on Friday at say 9:00pm US-Pacific, so
that way you European folks can read it over morning
coffee. :-)
I just want to get something simple going. My experience is
the larger the scope of a grassroots effort, the harder it
is to get going and the easier it is for people to wander
off (and I'm just as bad as the next guy there). The Zine
is small in scope. Portals are hard, but a Zine should be
easy. Just take in articles (for now, we can forego thorough
proofreading), and periodically blast them out and archive
the old ones. Once the episodes start getting out, the
inertia can help carry us over into bigger things. I just
like the format of articles and think all good communities
have a good zine, so there you go. Either way, I'm going to
write one or two article per week for the Zine, and hope
others will too. The theme to it all is simplicity--
Carl Read pointed out that programmers aren't motivated to
do topical pieces generally. So this provides the venue.
People can describe in detail home automation systems
they've built using REBOL, or other projects, etc. That
kind of topical writing doesn't spontaneously happen on a
mailing list where things are more conversational. The
article format requires that the writer develop a complete
stand alone peice about a topic. Anyhow-- you know all this
as a reporter for the Czech Amiga news, aye?
The other thing is I hope it could also serve as a venue for
non english speakers because as we see the mailinglist is
usually all English.
Okay... so enough ranting and raving.
Format and ideas:
I like the insider's look at REBOL Tech. No one says it has
to be non-fiction, though, right? :-)
I would like to develop these articles for the first
episode:
1. REBOL puzzles & idioms
2. Some of the neat uses I've found for REBOL/Command
I think Puzzels & Idioms should be a regular column.
Okay, I'll make sure Mr. Sassenrath, Mr. Kruse and Mr
Sterling all provide me with some kind of chicken
scrawlings. Add in the multi-megabytes of other
contributions and we'll have ourselves a fine, new and shiny
zine-- you'll just have to imagine the glossy paper. (-:
-jeff
