What can I do?

[David Harrison]

On Fri, 2004-09-03 at 07:53, Linas Vepstas wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 03, 2004 at 06:56:56AM -0700, David Harrison was heard to remark:
> > I have been poking around there already.  So, I guess I'll feel free to 
> > change/add things to the wiki pages?  
> 
> Yes. Adding a wiki page, and/or documentation about the 'double
> dating' discussion would be a big help.

Will do.
> 
> > I guess in my original question, I 
> > was wondering if there were any priorities?
> 
> well, the hard part of a volunteer organization is finding something
> that the volunteer will enjoy doing; if this isn't done, the person
> leaves the community.  In the light of this, 'priorities' are almost
> meaningless.  

Good point.
> 
> Unfortunately, its almost impossible to guess what turns you on; 
> only you can do that; you have to get comfortable with us, 
> and find a place where you fit in.
> 
> What I'd like to see is a larger and growing, active community,
> together with a real 'gnucash foundation'.  This means a network
> of accountants working with gnucash users.   This means having 
> wiki editors who can keep things up to date; documentation
> writers who can keep the balance between the wiki contents and
> the documentation.  Web masters who can balance the web contents
> with the wiki contents.   There's a zillion-and-one technical 
> projects: interoperability software, so that gnucash data can be 
> imported and exported, so that gnucash can do all those things 
> people want it to do.  A 'gnucash foundation' would obtain 
> web-based income without turning the website into an advertising 
> wasteland.   I dunno, can we make money refering accounting books 
> through Amazon??  In short, I'd like to tie gnucash into the 
> broader set of accounting activities going on in the world; 
> can you help with that?
> 

I like the vision you have.  It shows that there's a future here! 

I'll help out where I can.  Certainly documentation, helping users
through the mailing list, and making suggestions based on my experience
with end-users are all things that I can do.  

As for your question about Amazon, have you taken a look at the Amazon
associate program?  Linux.org has this on their home page, the Linux for
Non-Geeks book.  From a quick look, it appears that you get 5% from the
sale of the book.  My only question is who picks the book.  This is
definitely something to look at though.

Another web site to check out is XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting
Language), if you don't already know about it.  I remember an article in
a recent CGA magazine that talked about it.  I looked through the stuff
at the time, but I'm afraid it was a bit over my head.  But I remember
the article giving the impression that it was something to look at.

David

> 
> --linas