[sdnog] documenting all the tips and practices on SdNOG website

[Nishal Goburdhan]

On 10 Feb 2016, at 10:22, Samir Abullatif wrote:

> yes while I agree with you on the principle. I was just wondering 
> about the "how" in term of communication method.
> the traditional way of most "NOGs" usually involve discussion on the 
> mailing lists.
> but based on my experience I've noted that generally either on SdNOG 
> or by discussion with other engineers that people engage more on 
> social media for SdNOG posts and engineers mostly bookmarks blogs 
> instead of wiki
> I want to hear from other people is this issue unique to Sudan or you 
> face the same pattern

for my own part, i hardly use social media;  at least not for anything 
technical in nature.
i don’t see a problem with using this as a mechanism for alerting and 
making awareness;  though, i’m not sure how you’d keep it 
sustainable in any different way.


> in my opinion, I think people are moving from the mailing lists/wiki 
> towards social/blogs as they can be more "web 2.0".

first, a wiki is delivered typically over a http front-end.  so is a 
web-log (blog).  so, at least from a consumption perspective, there 
should be no difference.  the difference with a wiki, is that for it to 
work effectively, you need people to contribute to it over time.  a blog 
is just … well, listening to one person’s view on things (no matter 
how smart / dumb that person is).  arguably, a wiki is a lot more web2.0 
than a blog, since it involves more interaction, and can cater for more 
people’s opinions  :-)

what might be true is that people are not used to using a wiki, or find 
the software difficult to use.  that’s difficult to say for certain, 
because, honestly, there are over 130 subscribers to the mailing list, 
and about 10 registered wiki editors, and fewer than 4 active editors  
:-)    so, rather than saying that the software is difficult, i’m 
going to go with:  sadly, more people want to consume, than contribute.  
and that’s not something specific to sudan, that’s true all over the 
world.

i agree with mukom;  you’re missing a process to capture *what* and 
*how*, something should go onto a wiki (or blog, or … ).  but since 
this is all volunteer driven, it’s difficult to force people to do 
things, eh?  personally, i think that the sdNOG team has done a stunning 
job of documenting some of its workings already on the sdNOG wiki;  
it’s a *lot* more documentation that most other NOGs have!
and there’s already a best practice category, btw  :-)

tools aside, whether it’s a blog, or wiki, it will still require 
effort to participate.  perhaps identifying why there’s a lack of 
effort is a more constructive exercise.  my first suggestion would be 
language;  the current wiki is in english;  would changing the language 
help to get more people contributing?  would changing the language make 
it more difficult for existing contributors to continue?  is it 
practical to have a team of volunteers willing to do translation for 
those (like me) that aren’t arabic <-> english bilingual?

my second suggestion would be exposure?  perhaps the topics discussed in 
a NOG are not as interesting to as many people, as, says mobile app 
development?  different strokes for different folks?

but let’s see what others say…


> beside some other local factors we have such as some operators offer 
> free access to some social websites.

ha!   and, how many of those are hosted inside sudan, and can give you - 
the sudanese folks here - who are the ones that are most interested in 
this information, quick and easy access ??
please don’t get me started on how destructive the practice of 
zero-rating “certain websites” is;  it’s much too early in the 
morning for that.

a key part of building a wiki, and having sdNOG run their own server 
(rather than some free website overseas) was that it was an exercise in 
building local content.  you *must* start somewhere.  it’s the same 
reason that sdNOG runs their own services, rather than use the ISP;  .. 
teach self-reliance.

—n.