[Metakit] Re : Tom Cloyd/Wiki Suggestion

Sat Aug 13 20:42:51 CEST 2005

Actually, it wouldn't be all that difficult both set this up and to  
control access. I could do it in a couple of minutes, right now. I first  
want to know if Jean-Claude would prefer to do it himself, perhaps as an  
extension of his web site, or does it make more sense for us users to do  
this ourselves.

Since I have access to a dedicated Zope server, where I already have 4  
Plone sites flying, I could easily set up another, dedicated to this task.  
I would use the excellent ZWiki wiki software, for which I myself have  
already written a lot of documentation (and Simon, the programmer also has  
plenty on his excellent site). Access could be controlled easily in  
several ways. My first guess on how to do it would be to take manual  
control of access myself. People wanting in to the wiki would need only to  
email me with proof of their enrollment on the MetaKit mailing list (a  
copy of a recent post would do the trick).

So...I'd love more reaction to these thoughts. It'd be nice to "get it  
right". more or less, from the beginning.

Tom C.

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 05:29:13 -0700, Garth Lancaster  
<Garth.Lancaster at mbf.com.au> wrote:

> I think using a Wiki is a great idea in addition to the current (low  
> volume, be nice to keep it that way) mailing list
>
> They both have good/bad points. My only concern about a Wiki is access  
> and how do you stop every man and his dog from trashing it - ideally  
> you'd synch the allowed users with the names from the mailing list, but  
> thats likely more than you want to get into ...
>
> cheers, Garth
>
> Garth Lancaster
> Production Support Manager
> IT Services : Group Operations
> Medical Benefits Fund of Australia
> garth.lancaster at mbf.com.au
> Ph : +61 2 9323 9534
> Fax : +61 2 9323 9054
>>>> metakit-request at equi4.com 08/13/05 8:00 PM >>>
> Send Metakit mailing list submissions to
> 	metakit at equi4.com
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> 	http://www.equi4.com/mailman/listinfo/metakit
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> 	metakit-request at equi4.com
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> 	metakit-owner at equi4.com
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Metakit digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: ongoing problem (gary.h.merrill at gsk.com)
>    2. Re: ongoing problem (Tom Cloyd)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 06:32:05 -0400
> From: gary.h.merrill at gsk.com
> Subject: Re: [Metakit] ongoing problem
> To: "MetaKit Mailing List" <metakit at equi4.com>
> Message-ID:
> 	<OFA77A9B8F.E7E6547E-ON8525705B.0038F531-8525705B.0039DE27 at glaxo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Although I have not had similar problems with installing Metakit for
> Python on Windows, I have to agree and sympathize with Tom Cloyd's  
> remarks
> here.  The problem -- from the point of view of habitual Python users and
> those who understand how Python finds imported files and DLLs -- is that
> installation of Metakit is almost "too simple".  So it doesn't require  
> any
> instructions:  you know where to put this stuff, don't you?
> You know all about the DLLs directory of a Python installation and all
> about the site-packages directory.  You even know what a DLL *is* (who
> doesen't?).   So you just plop the couple of files in the "obvious"  
> places
> and off you go.
>
> Except that for people who are perhaps new to using Python or who have
> never used a Python package that didn't come with an installer, and who
> maybe don't even know what a DLL is (and what its relation to a ".so"  
> file
> is), this can be bewildering.
>
> Some additional and very explicit instructions could be very helpful.
> Things like:
>
> 1. Find your Python installation directory (and say what "installation
> driectory" means).
> 2. Find the DLL subdirectory of this.  Put Mk4py.dll in that directory.
> 3. Find the Lib/site-packages subdirectory of the installation directory.
> Put metakit.py there.
> 4. You're done.
>
> Something like this could help people in Tom's position.
>
> ------------------------------
> Gary H. Merrill, Principal Scientist
> Analysis Applications, Research, and Technologies
> GlaxoSmithKline Research and Development
> Research Triangle Park, NC
> 919.483.8456
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL:  
> http://www.equi4.com/pipermail/metakit/attachments/20050812/f4d4133b/attachment-0001.htm
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 00:28:23 -0700
> From: "Tom Cloyd" <tomcloyd at bestmindhealth.com>
> Subject: Re: [Metakit] ongoing problem
> To: "MetaKit Mailing List" <metakit at equi4.com>
> Message-ID: <op.svfq1lg8jvf8eq at hp27551879432.hsd1.wa.comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; delsp=yes; charset=utf-8
>
> Gary and List,
>
> Gosh darn...thanks for 'getting it'. A lovely, thoughtful response. I
> utterly
> love computers, but I'm a psychotherapist and artist, and don't have all
> the
> time in the world to learn what I need to know to work at the level many  
> of
> you do. I find myself frequently struggling with documentation or lack of
> it,
> in all directions. I have written extensive documentation for my own
> programs
> and web sites, and some for others, and I don't minimize the task at  
> all. I
> understand why it's always a problem, and the situation won't improve if  
> we
> don't ask for, and work for, improvement, eh?
>
> All of my remarks, howsoever tinged with frustration they might have  
> been,
> were intended to be constructive, I also want to assure you. When I see
> some
> great new tool, I always want there to be an 8-lane freeway to its door.
> There
> rarely is.
>
> I just spent 4 frustrating days trying to solve an encoding problem in
> Python.
> The Python documentation is really great, and I was delighted by it. But  
> it
> gave me tons of options and no direction. Two different discussion lists
> full
> of experts had no ideas about my problem. And this was for a program that
> has
> worked fine for weeks. I actually get work done with it, and needed to  
> get
> to
> going NOW, after it stopped working for reasons I still don't grasp. I
> finally
> stumbled across a suggestion of a solution in an odd place, and got the
> pig to
> fly, entirely on my own.
>
> The problem? No where could I find documentation of the fact that
> string.maketrans() compares the length of its two string parameters in
> terms
> of bytes of storage used, not in terms of character count, and encoding
> affects this mightly. Given that this is a fact, it can easily be a
> problem,
> and there ought to be some recommended solutions (he says hopefully).
> Darned if
>   *I* could find them, and othing obvious worked.
>
> Well, I feel a little bad complaining about MetaKit documentation without
> offering a solution, so here goes: I recommend that a wiki be set up
> somewhere
> (I could even do it at my web site) where those of us working with this
> most
> interesting resource could craft some open source documentation. I could
> immediately offer some tips for naive newbie windows users, etc., and I'd
> be
> fascinated to see what others might have to say.
>
> It's not that existing documentation is awful. It isn't. It's just that
> it's
> very difficult to anticipate everyone's needs.
>
> Anyone beside me like the idea? I sure do. Please...think about it.
>
> Tom C.
>
>
> On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 03:32:05 -0700, <gary.h.merrill at gsk.com> wrote:
>
> Although I have not had similar problems with installing Metakit for
> Python on Windows, I have to agree and sympathize with Tom Cloyd's  
> remarks
> here.  The problem -- from the point of view of habitual Python users and
> those who understand how Python finds imported files and DLLs -- is that
> installation of Metakit is almost "too simple".  So it doesn't require  
> any
> instructions:  you know where to put this stuff, don't you?
> You know all about the DLLs directory of a Python installation and all
> about the site-packages directory.  You even know what a DLL *is* (who
> doesen't?).   So you just plop the couple of files in the "obvious"  
> places
> and off you go.
>
> Except that for people who are perhaps new to using Python or who have
> never used a Python package that didn't come with an installer, and who
> maybe don't even know what a DLL is (and what its relation to a ".so"  
> file
> is), this can be bewildering.
>
> Some additional and very explicit instructions could be very helpful.
> Things like:
>
> 1. Find your Python installation directory (and say what "installation
> driectory" means).
> 2. Find the DLL subdirectory of this.  Put Mk4py.dll in that directory.
> 3. Find the Lib/site-packages subdirectory of the installation directory.
> Put metakit.py there.
> 4. You're done.
>
> Something like this could help people in Tom's position.
>
> ------------------------------
> Gary H. Merrill, Principal Scientist
> Analysis Applications, Research, and Technologies
> GlaxoSmithKline Research and Development
> Research Triangle Park, NC
> 919.483.8456
>
>
> --
>
> ======================================================
> Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC
> Private practice Psychotherapist
> Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
> << BestMindHealth.com / tc at bestmindhealth.com >>
> ======================================================
>
> Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client (program):
> http://www.opera.com/mail/
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Metakit mailing list  -  Metakit at equi4.com
> http://www.equi4.com/mailman/listinfo/metakit
>
>
> End of Metakit Digest, Vol 21, Issue 12
> ***************************************
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
> This email contains confidential information intended
> only for the addressee.  If you received it in error,
> please inform us by reply email or by calling us from
> Australia on 131 137 or Internationally on 612 93239500.
> Please also delete this email and destroy any hard copy.
> You must not disclose or use the information in this email.
> ______________________________________________________________________
> _____________________________________________
> Metakit mailing list  -  Metakit at equi4.com
> http://www.equi4.com/mailman/listinfo/metakit

-- 

======================================================
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC
Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< BestMindHealth.com / tc at bestmindhealth.com >>
======================================================

Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client (program):  
http://www.opera.com/mail/