Forum OpenACS Development: Response to How about an OpenACS wiki?

I think the solution to this issue is much simpeler. I also read the thread. I am not a programmer, but am dying to learn what OpenACS can give me to create a usefull internet environment. I spend the better part of 18 months to become familiar with ACS, am convinced it is superior to Zope, Wiki, and whatever alternatives.

My advise would be keep it simple, do not use zope or wiki to create an acs environmet/userguide to ACS. This will only confuse users. I don't want to discredit the other systems, from an outsiders' point of vieuw I would say,... If the Openacs infrastructure can not even be used to create a userguide, why go for OpenACS? Who will read a users guide that requires users to become famliar with wikki or zope? seems like a chicken and egg question.

I feel there is an alternative to this issue. This has little to do with technology, but more with community buidling, based on the technology we have avialable. To be more specific, it's about people. We need a /directory of people based on expertise re :
- Modules
- Available time for paid consultation
- Available for free advise on simple questions, accesible via /chat or /tickettracker for a quick q&A session for problems that are a nightmare for newbies, and a piece of cake for hackers. (you couldset a time limit on the consultation)
- Daily editor of q & A on bboard, to cut trhough the clutter and eliminate duplicate answers. If you edit the topics on a regualar basis and weed out irrelevant speech, but stick to facts, you end up with a very readable userguide. Right now, a search in the forum database results in far to much detailed information for it to be usefull/understandable for end users / non hackers.
- Basic questions should be cut back to the Q&A module. That is what end users expect!.
Synchronise this with /glossary for those that prefer to be able to to do an A-Z inventarisation.

Right now just about every answer users may have has been answered at least a dozen times, in diffrent formats. The only problem is I am a dummy and don't understand what you folks are trying to explain. I don't speak your (tech)language, and more important. I am not interested to learn to understand it. What you guys make, must work for me as your client. No database will able to make that transition seamlessly without human intervention. You need a couple of people to make those translations.

That would be the volontary contribution from my part to the Openacs community, to set this in motion and act as moderator. We have great tool called member value. That could act as the fundament of the idea, as it tracks both real money and barter transactions.

Guys, we've got everything we need onboard, but only use about 60% to run our own show. What do you say?... who care's to help me to things in motion. I am dealing with end users on a daily basis and am developping a number of ACS project, and will be using the feedback and problem sets I get to make this work for my own service, but am convinced everybody can benefit from a consolidated effort. Why invent the wheel, because a system is to difficult to understand ? We've got 4622 registred users. I am sure there will be some folks that could help get things moving.

Cheers