Write a Better FM

With 15 years of documentation experience, Rich has seen thousands of beginners turned away by hostile RTFM-style responses. Although Larry Wall famously said that Laziness, Impatience and Hubris are the three virtues of a programmer, they have no place in end-user support. Documentation and other forms of end-user support are what bring people into our communities, and what keep them from immediately fleeing to another community.

Defining your audience, determining what questions they're actually asking, and answering them in a patient and respectful manner, are all at the heart of good documentation and good user support.

It's time to write a better FM.