# FAQ updates

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/faq-updates/108949>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [July 9, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/faq-updates/108949 "2007-07-09T21:12:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/34f0e0/32.png) [@Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Faisal_N_Jawdat)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/faq-updates/108949/1 "2007-07-09T21:12:41Z")

</div>

I’ve thrown a bunch of updates at the FAQ, and brought some of the  
original questions up to date with current practice:

[http://www.faisal.com/docs/ror-list-faq.xhtml](http://www.faisal.com/docs/ror-list-faq.xhtml)

As always, feel free to send me comments, new questions, flames, etc.

-faisal

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/34f0e0/32.png) [@Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Faisal_N_Jawdat)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/faq-updates/108949/2 "2007-07-10T04:30:22Z")

</div>

Faisal N Jawdat wrote:

> I’ve thrown a bunch of updates at the FAQ, and brought some of the  
> original questions up to date with current practice:
> 
> [http://www.faisal.com/docs/ror-list-faq.xhtml](http://www.faisal.com/docs/ror-list-faq.xhtml)

To help improve this forum, the regulars here should borrow two  
excellent  
techniques which news:comp.lang.c++ has used successfully.

We need to automatically post that FAQ once a week, in a post called  
“Read  
this FAQ before you post”.

And each time anyone asks a question which the FAQ covers, don’t answer  
it.  
Briefly (and politely) provide a link to the page in the FAQ with the  
answer. Follow up with the friendly admonition “always check the FAQ  
before  
posting”.

These behaviors will make this forum much more useful to everyone, and  
we  
will attract more senior regulars. People who currently don’t have time  
to  
wade thru all the posts that just say “how do I start programming Rails  
without reading a stupid book?”…

–  
Phlip  
[Test Driven Ajax (on Rails) [Book]](http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510657/)  
“Test Driven Ajax (on Rails)”  
assert\_xpath, assert\_javascript, & assert\_ajax

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/34f0e0/32.png) [@Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Faisal_N_Jawdat)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/faq-updates/108949/3 "2007-07-10T05:00:26Z")

</div>

On Jul 9, 2007, at 10:29 PM, Phlip wrote:

> We need to automatically post that FAQ once a week, in a post  
> called “Read  
> this FAQ before you post”.

Know a clean way to do this? Failing that I’ll probably just set up  
a cron job to mail out an html-to-text version of the file.

-faisal

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/34f0e0/32.png) [@Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Faisal_N_Jawdat)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 5:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/faq-updates/108949/4 "2007-07-10T05:13:27Z")

</div>

Faisal N Jawdat wrote:

> -faisal

Hi Faisal,

I wonder if it’s better to mail out only the questions with links to the  
answer. That way, the email size will be smaller but people will still  
know which questions have been answered in the FAQ.

You’ve done a great job with the FAQ - one suggestion I have is to name/  
number the sections and the questions in the sections so that people can  
answer new mails with statements like “See question 2.3 in the FAQ”

I’ll contact you separately myself to add to the answers to some of the  
questions.

Cheers,  
Mohit.  
7/10/2007 | 11:12 AM.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/34f0e0/32.png) [@Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Faisal_N_Jawdat)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 10:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/faq-updates/108949/5 "2007-07-10T10:24:56Z")

</div>

> > > We need to automatically post that FAQ once a week, in a post  
> > > called “Read  
> > > this FAQ before you post”.
> > 
> > Know a clean way to do this?
> 
> No. Unless it’s in the Google interface (what are the odds??).

How long would it take to write & cron a ruby script to parse the FAQ  
and spit out an email to the list? 😉 Only takes 1 email and everyone  
will get it.

Cliff

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/34f0e0/32.png) [@Faisal\_N\_Jawdat](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Faisal_N_Jawdat)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/faq-updates/108949/6 "2007-07-10T05:14:27Z")

</div>

Faisal N Jawdat wrote:

> > We need to automatically post that FAQ once a week, in a post  
> > called “Read  
> > this FAQ before you post”.
> 
> Know a clean way to do this?

No. Unless it’s in the Google interface (what are the odds??).

Google for [Shiva “comp.lang.c++” welcome message] and work your way out  
to  
how he does it. He posted that once.

> Failing that I’ll probably just set up  
> a cron job to mail out an html-to-text version of the file.

That’s probably how. But don’t mail the FAQ out; mail out a “welcome”  
message that directs people to the FAQ. Mail out the Meta-FAQ.

–  
Phlip  
[Test Driven Ajax (on Rails) [Book]](http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510657/)  
“Test Driven Ajax (on Rails)”  
assert\_xpath, assert\_javascript, & assert\_ajax
