Thread: Fwd: [cbp] New MySQL Journal
Forwarded from a computer book publishing list I'm on. It'd be awesome if the community could do something similar for PostgreSQL... do we have enough authors to pull it off? Begin forwarded message: > All, > > This post is from Sam Flywheel and the new MySQL Journal. > > Hello, all: > > I am pleased to announce that the MySQL Journal is moving forward. > During the past two weeks, I've been discussing the journal with > MySQL AB, and the plan that's been devised benefits all involved, > including authors, readers, the community, the journal, and MySQL AB. > > Let me outline how the journal will operate: > > * The name of the magazine is Tabula: The Journal of MySQL > Development. The domain name of the magazine will be > themysqljournal.com. The trademark "MySQL" is being used with the > permission of MySQL AB. > > * The magazine will be published monthly and will be distributed > solely as a personalized, password-protected, watermarked PDF. > > * Each issue of the magazine will include three feature stories, six > or so columns (TBD), and other content to support the community, such > as calendars, news, puzzles, profiles, interviews, press releases, > software releases, etc. > > * Each author must warrant that the material submitted to the journal > is original, unencumbered by copyright restrictions, and has not been > published previously. > > * Any previously-published material (whether published online or in > print) used in a contribution to the journal must be used with > written permission or in strict accordance with the material's > governing license. > > * Each author retains his or her copyright in the original material > contributed to the journal. Except for the conditions listed below > (points 6-8), the author is free to reuse the material without > limitation. > > * Each author grants the journal first serial rights and perpetual > use rights in all forms of media. > > * Each author agrees to not publish his or her contribution online or > in another periodical (magazine, technical journal) for sixty (60) > days after the contribution is published and made available to the > public. > > * However, authors may repurpose the material freely and at any time > for conferences, books, courses, and lectures, and for use within his > or her organization. > > * Thirty (30) days after first publication, MySQL AB has the right to > post each article on its own MySQL Network. > > * Subscribers will have early access to all draft articles and will > have the opportunity to comment and contribute. This is a form of > peer review and a perk for subscribers. > > * Each author will be compensated for the rights granted above. > Features earn $750 for 3,500-4000 words. Columns earn $500 for 2,500 > words. Fees for shorter content, such as Lightning Articles, puzzles, > and tips and tricks will be determined shortly, but would likely be > $50-$100 for 1,000 words or less. > > * Annual subscriptions to Tabula will be US$72.00. > > * Individual issues and back issues will be available for sale from > the web site for $9.00 each. > > * Advertising is accepted and encouraged. A full-page ad is $2,000; > other sizes include half-page (either vertical or horizontal), one- > third page (vertical only), and quarter-page, each priced > proportionally. A text-only ad in the "Marketplace" section, ideal > for classifieds, job postings, and services is $100 for 200 words + > logo. > > * All bylines and advertisements may include links and email > addresses. The PDF will be "clickable" to jump to previous material, > other sites, code downloads, and authors' and vendors' web sites. > > > One caveat: some minimum number of subscribers -- probably above > 1,000 -- is needed to warrant the launch of the magazine. If that > minimum is not met, the magazine may be cancelled and all monies will > be refunded to subscribers. > > I think this is the big stuff. Again, the MySQL AB connection is a > pleasant addition to the publishing plan. The company would like the > journal to succeed and has been very supportive. For clarity, MySQL > AB is not obligated to fund, participate, subsidize, advertise, or > contribute to the journal. The journal is an independent endeavor, > using the MySQL mark with permission. > > What's next? > > 1. Accept proposals for columns and features and other content. > (Propose something now!) > > 2. Identify each regular column and its author. > > 3. Identify at least nine features. > > 4. Describe the format(s) for lightning articles. > > 5. Publish the writer's kit. > > 6. Get the web site up and running. > > 7. Collect community information. > > 8. Contact vendors to encourage contributions and advertising. > > 9. Set deadlines for issue #1 and set a launch date. > > 10. Get the word out! > > > The permanent staff of the magazine has considerable experience > editing and producing technical articles. The magazine has already > been designed and looks great! I'll share the mockup soon -- I want > to try and put real names and columns in the mockup. > > I know this email is long, but I wanted to try and answer the most > pressing questions that authors and advertisers tend to have. If you > have any questions, please send me email. You are welcome to forward > this to others or post it online to appropriate forums. (Please do!) > > Sam > > > -- > Kenneth Hess > (918) 665.8878 > http://www.kenhess.com > -- > To receive this list as a daily digest, send "set cbp digest" > to majordomo@ls.studiob.com > -- Decibel!, aka Jim Nasby decibel@decibel.org EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com 512.569.9461 (cell)
On Monday 30 July 2007 22:18, Decibel! wrote: > Forwarded from a computer book publishing list I'm on. > > It'd be awesome if the community could do something similar for > PostgreSQL... do we have enough authors to pull it off? The better question is, is there somebody out there with the money to take on the risk of publishing a magazine? Robert
Hi Stefan, On Tuesday 31 July 2007 08:15, Stefan 'Kaishakunin' Schumacher wrote: > > > It'd be awesome if the community could do something similar for > > > PostgreSQL... do we have enough authors to pull it off? > > > > The better question is, is there somebody out there with the money to take on the risk of publishing a magazine? > > If there is no publisher that would publish a printed version, online > distribution eg. as a high quality formatted PDF might work to. It's still going to take money.
Also sprach Robert Bernier (robert.bernier5@sympatico.ca) > On Monday 30 July 2007 22:18, Decibel! wrote: > > Forwarded from a computer book publishing list I'm on. > > > > It'd be awesome if the community could do something similar for > > PostgreSQL... do we have enough authors to pull it off? > > The better question is, is there somebody out there with the money to take on the risk of publishing a magazine? If there is no publisher that would publish a printed version, online distribution eg. as a high quality formatted PDF might work to. However, this will take a lot work and require a lot of input from writers. -- PGP FPR: CF74 D5F2 4871 3E5C FFFE 0130 11F4 C41E B3FB AE33 http://www.net-tex.de http://www.cryptomancer.de -- Worum haben die Menschen von Kindesbeinen an gebetet, wovon haben sie geträumt, womit haben sie sich gequält? Daß irgendeiner ihnen ein für allemal sage, was das Glück ist, und sie mit einer Kette an dieses Glück schmiede. Und ist dies nicht gerade das, was wir tun? Der uralte Traum vom Paradies ... Jewgenij Iwanowitsch Samjatin, »Wir«
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Also sprach Robert Bernier (robert.bernier5@sympatico.ca) > Hi Stefan, > > On Tuesday 31 July 2007 08:15, Stefan 'Kaishakunin' Schumacher wrote: > > > > It'd be awesome if the community could do something similar for > > > > PostgreSQL... do we have enough authors to pull it off? > > > > > > The better question is, is there somebody out there with the money to take > on the risk of publishing a magazine? > > > > If there is no publisher that would publish a printed version, online > > distribution eg. as a high quality formatted PDF might work to. > > It's still going to take money. Did I say anything else? -- PGP FPR: CF74 D5F2 4871 3E5C FFFE 0130 11F4 C41E B3FB AE33 http://www.net-tex.de http://www.cryptomancer.de -- Worum haben die Menschen von Kindesbeinen an gebetet, wovon haben sie geträumt, womit haben sie sich gequält? Daß irgendeiner ihnen ein für allemal sage, was das Glück ist, und sie mit einer Kette an dieses Glück schmiede. Und ist dies nicht gerade das, was wir tun? Der uralte Traum vom Paradies ... Jewgenij Iwanowitsch Samjatin, »Wir«
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In response to Robert Bernier <robert.bernier5@sympatico.ca>: > On Monday 30 July 2007 22:18, Decibel! wrote: > > Forwarded from a computer book publishing list I'm on. > > > > It'd be awesome if the community could do something similar for > > PostgreSQL... do we have enough authors to pull it off? > > The better question is, is there somebody out there with the money to take on the risk of publishing a magazine? I've been working part-time with a small-press publisher for about six months now. I don't have access to any money, but I have access to expertise in the business of publishing. If someone's willing to foot the bill to launch this, I'm willing to get involved part-time to make it happen. -- Bill Moran http://www.potentialtech.com
Hi: I'm the new CTO of EntepriseDB and have just joined this list. Look forward to actively participating in the efforts/community/evangelism, etc on PostgreSQL. I'm very pleased and excited to be part of this effort and look forward to meeting many of you thru the course of further elevating PostgreSQL visibility in the market. With respect to this topic, I hope to reach out to Fuat Kircaali who is the founder and CEO of SYS-CON Media and whom I've known for many years to discuss the potential of creating a new PostgreSQL Journal that could be published by them. Again, this would be exploratory at first to gauge their interest and to determine the process for creating a journal by them. I'll report back on my findings, but I think this is a great idea. SysCon are the producers of many technology journals including AjaxWorld Magazine, Java Developer Journal, Enterprise Open Source Magazine, etc. Their website is here: http://www5.sys-con.com/ They also do events/conferences like AjaxWorld. I will also touch base with their executive editor also. Bob -----Original Message----- From: pgsql-advocacy-owner@postgresql.org [mailto:pgsql-advocacy-owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Robert Bernier Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 8:34 AM To: Stefan 'Kaishakunin' Schumacher Cc: pgsql-advocacy@postgresql.org; Decibel! Subject: Re: [pgsql-advocacy] Fwd: [cbp] New MySQL Journal Hi Stefan, On Tuesday 31 July 2007 08:15, Stefan 'Kaishakunin' Schumacher wrote: > > > It'd be awesome if the community could do something similar for > > > PostgreSQL... do we have enough authors to pull it off? > > > > The better question is, is there somebody out there with the money to take on the risk of publishing a magazine? > > If there is no publisher that would publish a printed version, online > distribution eg. as a high quality formatted PDF might work to. It's still going to take money. ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 9: In versions below 8.0, the planner will ignore your desire to choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not match
Bob Zurek wrote: > Hi: > I'm the new CTO of EntepriseDB and have just joined this list. Hopefully your employer won't disjoin you due to crime against the company name :-) > With respect to this topic, I hope to reach out to Fuat Kircaali who is > the founder and CEO of SYS-CON Media and whom I've known for many years > to discuss the potential of creating a new PostgreSQL Journal that could > be published by them. This sounds like a very good idea, because a PostgreSQL Journal would probably need more journalistic input than the community could provide. Regards, Andreas
Hi Bob, On Tuesday 31 July 2007 11:36, Bob Zurek wrote: > Hi: > I'm the new CTO of EntepriseDB and have just joined this list. Welcome to the community! > With respect to this topic, I hope to reach out to Fuat Kircaali who is > the founder and CEO of SYS-CON Media and whom I've known for many years > to discuss the potential of creating a new PostgreSQL Journal that could > be published by them. IMHO, there are sufficient writers in the community to do the job. If you encounter a tepid response may I suggest that you argue for a PostgreSQL column in one or more of their current publications.Thus allowing the publisher to get their feet wet without feeling they've commited into something they can'thandle. > Again, this would be exploratory at first to gauge > their interest and to determine the process for creating a journal by > them. I'll report back on my findings I myself will be curious to hear the outcome. The ball is in your court :-) Robert
Hi Robert Thanks for your note of welcome. I agree that an alternate and a good first start is to potentially get a column in their Enterprise Open Source magazine. Happy to pursue it. Bob -----Original Message----- From: Robert Bernier [mailto:robert.bernier5@sympatico.ca] Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 12:03 PM To: Bob Zurek Cc: Stefan 'Kaishakunin' Schumacher; pgsql-advocacy@postgresql.org; Decibel! Subject: postgresql publication ---> was "Re: New MySQL Journal" Hi Bob, On Tuesday 31 July 2007 11:36, Bob Zurek wrote: > Hi: > I'm the new CTO of EntepriseDB and have just joined this list. Welcome to the community! > With respect to this topic, I hope to reach out to Fuat Kircaali who is > the founder and CEO of SYS-CON Media and whom I've known for many years > to discuss the potential of creating a new PostgreSQL Journal that could > be published by them. IMHO, there are sufficient writers in the community to do the job. If you encounter a tepid response may I suggest that you argue for a PostgreSQL column in one or more of their current publications. Thus allowing the publisher to get their feet wet without feeling they've commited into something they can't handle. > Again, this would be exploratory at first to gauge > their interest and to determine the process for creating a journal by > them. I'll report back on my findings I myself will be curious to hear the outcome. The ball is in your court :-) Robert
All, I'm personally dubvious about the advisability of having our own Journal vs. having regular articles in other people's publications. I don't think that we have so many writers in the community that doing a PostgreSQL journal wouldn't rob Linux magazines, sysadmin magazines, blogs, oreillynet etc. of content. If we think we have untapped writers, I'd rather push them to contribute to these publications, which will reach people who aren't PG users or have even heard of PG rather than the faithful. This would be especially the case with and online-only Journal, which nobody would stumble across on the newsstand by accident. I'd also be nervous about doing anything with SYS-CON Media given their rather tainted reputation in the OSS community. The only way this makes sense is if it would attract many new people to writing and publishing about PostgreSQL who otherwise wouldn't do it. If nothing else, I don't believe that our existing active writers are sufficient for a Journal. -- Josh Berkus PostgreSQL @ Sun San Francisco
On Tuesday 31 July 2007 13:06, Josh Berkus wrote: > I'm personally dubvious about the advisability of having our own Journal vs. > having regular articles in other people's publications. I don't think that > we have so many writers in the community that doing a PostgreSQL journal > wouldn't rob Linux magazines, sysadmin magazines, blogs, oreillynet etc. of > content. I don't believe we're robbing anybody. As somebody who's income is primarily derived from advocating i.e. training and publishing articles, I have been fortunatein seeing how the publishing industry works vis a vis opensource articles. > If we think we have untapped writers, I'd rather push them to contribute to > these publications, which will reach people who aren't PG users or have even > heard of PG rather than the faithful. This would be especially the case > with and online-only Journal, which nobody would stumble across on the > newsstand by accident. > The only way this makes sense is if it would attract many new people to > writing and publishing about PostgreSQL who otherwise wouldn't do it. If > nothing else, I don't believe that our existing active writers are > sufficient for a Journal. I'm not worried about a lack of writers. In either case it's something that doesn't require a decision just yet. Let's see what happens with Bob's initiative. Robert
Probably makes sense to keep all our options open at this point but agree with Josh on ensuring that we get PG visible in all publications, blogs, etc. that he rightly points out. As far as Sys-Con, just an option for now to see what they can offer. Wasn't aware of the tainted reputation issues amongst the OS community with Sys-con. But I will note your point. Z. -----Original Message----- From: Josh Berkus [mailto:josh@agliodbs.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 1:07 PM To: pgsql-advocacy@postgresql.org Cc: Bob Zurek Subject: Re: [pgsql-advocacy] postgresql publication ---> was "Re: New MySQL Journal" All, I'm personally dubvious about the advisability of having our own Journal vs. having regular articles in other people's publications. I don't think that we have so many writers in the community that doing a PostgreSQL journal wouldn't rob Linux magazines, sysadmin magazines, blogs, oreillynet etc. of content. If we think we have untapped writers, I'd rather push them to contribute to these publications, which will reach people who aren't PG users or have even heard of PG rather than the faithful. This would be especially the case with and online-only Journal, which nobody would stumble across on the newsstand by accident. I'd also be nervous about doing anything with SYS-CON Media given their rather tainted reputation in the OSS community. The only way this makes sense is if it would attract many new people to writing and publishing about PostgreSQL who otherwise wouldn't do it. If nothing else, I don't believe that our existing active writers are sufficient for a Journal. -- Josh Berkus PostgreSQL @ Sun San Francisco
On Tue, Jul 31, 2007 at 10:06:37AM -0700, Josh Berkus wrote: > All, > > I'm personally dubvious about the advisability of having our own > Journal vs. having regular articles in other people's publications. > I don't think that we have so many writers in the community that > doing a PostgreSQL journal wouldn't rob Linux magazines, sysadmin > magazines, blogs, oreillynet etc. of content. Part of the trouble is that those qualified to write are also pretty busy. > If we think we have untapped writers, I'd rather push them to > contribute to these publications, which will reach people who aren't > PG users or have even heard of PG rather than the faithful. This > would be especially the case with and online-only Journal, which > nobody would stumble across on the newsstand by accident. > > I'd also be nervous about doing anything with SYS-CON Media given > their rather tainted reputation in the OSS community. Could you elucidate this a bit? Cheers, David. -- David Fetter <david@fetter.org> http://fetter.org/ phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666 Skype: davidfetter Remember to vote! Consider donating to PostgreSQL: http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate
All, > > I'd also be nervous about doing anything with SYS-CON Media given > > their rather tainted reputation in the OSS community. > > Could you elucidate this a bit? I was referring to Maureen O'Gara and the mass resignation of the Linux Magazine staff about 18 months ago. AFAIK, that still hasn't been cleaned up. -- --Josh Josh Berkus PostgreSQL @ Sun San Francisco
Robert Bernier wrote: > On Tuesday 31 July 2007 13:06, Josh Berkus wrote: >> I'm personally dubvious about the advisability of having our own Journal vs. >> having regular articles in other people's publications. I don't think that >> we have so many writers in the community that doing a PostgreSQL journal >> wouldn't rob Linux magazines, sysadmin magazines, blogs, oreillynet etc. of >> content. > > I don't believe we're robbing anybody. Well I guess Josh's point was that there is only so much content that the currently not so gigantic group of people competent in writing about PostgreSQL community can write up. So the question is if this content should best be published in a specialized PostgreSQL mag or in other types of mags, like linux, programming etc. Because if the current crop of writes would take the time they currently have and write for this new journal, they might not have content to offer to other mags. Obviously if the creation of this mag would result in more good content being written on PostgreSQL, then it would be a whole different story. regards, Lukas
David Fetter wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 31, 2007 at 10:06:37AM -0700, Josh Berkus wrote:
>> All,
>>
>> I'm personally dubvious about the advisability of having our own
>> Journal vs. having regular articles in other people's publications.
>> I don't think that we have so many writers in the community that
>> doing a PostgreSQL journal wouldn't rob Linux magazines, sysadmin
>> magazines, blogs, oreillynet etc. of content.
>
> Part of the trouble is that those qualified to write are also pretty
> busy.
+2
Joshua D. Drake
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At 3:56p -0700 on 31 Jul 2007, Lukas Kahwe Smith wrote:
> Robert Bernier wrote:
>> On Tuesday 31 July 2007 13:06, Josh Berkus wrote:
>>> I'm personally dubvious about the advisability of having our own
>>> Journal vs. having regular articles in other people's publications.
>>> I don't think that we have so many writers in the community that
>>> doing a PostgreSQL journal wouldn't rob Linux magazines, sysadmin
>>> magazines, blogs, oreillynet etc. of content.
>>
>> I don't believe we're robbing anybody.
>
> Well I guess Josh's point was that there is only so much content that
> the currently not so gigantic group of people competent in writing about
> PostgreSQL community can write up.
Hmm. I don't think I agree with this point, then. Considering the
absolutely ginormous volume of knowledge and the number of _extremely_
intelligent people on this list, I think the problem may be more
"instant recall" or ideas than the fact that they have "nothing to write
about." Knowing about what to write is generally the crux.
Also, don't forget: just because the regulars on these lists know
something, doesn't mean that it would not be helpful to noobs. Even
trivial things are useful to those who don't know them.
If one is looking for ideas about which to write, it seems to me that
the fairly active mailing lists would be an excellent thermometer from
which to gauge (-general, -performance, -hackers, -interfaces, -admin
... basically any/all of the non-developer lists) what would be useful
to readers of such a publication.
> So the question is if this content
> should best be published in a specialized PostgreSQL mag or in other
> types of mags, like linux, programming etc.
I can't speak to this(, but I've scene a couple of articles regarding
PostgreSQL and MySQL in Linux Journal {April,May,June}\ 2007, I think) . . .
> Because if the current crop
> of writes would take the time they currently have and write for this new
> journal, they might not have content to offer to other mags.
. . . but this seems to me a silly argument. We don't know that this
would be the case. If there is sufficient interest in a publication,
why not see what happens? If we don't have the authors, then we don't
have the authors. If we don't have readers, then we don't have readers.
At least we tried. No need to future.
> Obviously if the creation of this mag would result in more good content
> being written on PostgreSQL, then it would be a whole different story.
Agreed.
Kevin
On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Kevin Hunter wrote: > Considering the absolutely ginormous volume of knowledge and the number > of _extremely_ intelligent people on this list, I think the problem may > be more "instant recall" or ideas than the fact that they have "nothing > to write about." Knowing about what to write is generally the crux. Knowing how to do something and being able to turn that into a written article about it are two slightly different skill sets, and you have to get both of them in the same person to create such content. It's possible to get something workable out of non-writers, but then you need to devote substantial editing resources to polishing it and that has its own set of issues. As the most extreme example, consider how you'd handle an expert who doesn't have English as their native language. It's possible for someone like that to be a great contributor on the coding and mailing lists here, but you'd be hard pressed to get them to write in an article format. If you take the subset of the community that understands the material, then intersect with those who can write, then see who's left you'll find a small group of people without much spare time; that's the point people have been making here. Since high quality technical writing never pays as much as the same amount of time spent doing straight technical work does unless you can sell the result to a huge audience (and PostgreSQL doesn't qualify there yet), it also doesn't make economic sense for many of the potentially qualified people to even dabble in this area. > If one is looking for ideas about which to write, it seems to me that > the fairly active mailing lists would be an excellent thermometer... Ideas are the easy part; I have a list of >20 ideas for articles about PostgreSQL that answer the sort of questions that pop up here regularly. But writing any one of them takes many hours worth of research, writing time, proofreading and testing, and similar work to actually turn into something worth making available to the world at large. As was mentioned in the discussion about the MySQL comparision piece I've been working on recently, a poorly written article can be worse than nothing, because it can leave people with a bad taste for some aspect of the product or how it's represented that isn't justified. -- * Greg Smith gsmith@gregsmith.com http://www.gregsmith.com Baltimore, MD
At 9:52p -0700 on 31 Jul 2007, Greg Smith wrote: > On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Kevin Hunter wrote: >> Considering the absolutely ginormous volume of knowledge and the >> number of _extremely_ intelligent people on this list, I think the >> problem may be more "instant recall" or ideas than the fact that they >> have "nothing to write about." Knowing about what to write is >> generally the crux. > > Knowing how to do something and being able to turn that into a written > article about it are two slightly different skill sets, and you have to > get both of them in the same person to create such content. It's > possible to get something workable out of non-writers, but then you need > to devote substantial editing resources to polishing it and that has its > own set of issues. Okay. > If you take the subset of the community that understands the material, > then intersect with those who can write, then see who's left you'll find > a small group of people without much spare time; Pardon my ignorance, but I don't know who comprises any of those groups: without naming names, how many writers are you suggesting the community actually has? I'm not pushing for something that is beginning to sound like an unfeasible request, especially since I'm not in that small group, but I am curious > But writing any one of them takes many hours worth of research, writing > time, proofreading and testing, and similar work to actually turn into > something worth making available to the world at large. As was > mentioned in the discussion about the MySQL comparision piece I've been > working on recently, a poorly written article can be worse than nothing, > because it can leave people with a bad taste for some aspect of the > product or how it's represented that isn't justified. Fair enough. The quality point is an excellent one, and one that I time and again appreciate as I read the PostgreSQL lists and use the PostgreSQL software. Kevin
At 9:52p -0700 on 31 Jul 2007, Greg Smith wrote: > Ideas are the easy part; I have a list of >20 ideas for articles about > PostgreSQL that answer the sort of questions that pop up here regularly. May I naively ask what some of these ideas are? I ask because I think we're coming at this publication thing from two different sides. Having read a few of your posts to the list, I gather you are fairly knowledgeable about DBs in general and PostgreSQL in particular. I am at the opposite end of the spectrum. Kevin
On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Kevin Hunter wrote: > Pardon my ignorance, but I don't know who comprises any of those groups: > without naming names, how many writers are you suggesting the community > actually has? I would suggest looking at the regulars posting interesting articles at http://www.planetpostgresql.org/ to see who the main people writing in this area are, and to get an idea how much free tutorial material is being generated right now by them. -- * Greg Smith gsmith@gregsmith.com http://www.gregsmith.com Baltimore, MD
On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Kevin Hunter wrote: > May I naively ask what some of these ideas are? I ask because I think > we're coming at this publication thing from two different sides. Some sample article ideas I've culled from watching what people ask about on the performance list (the main area I follow) are: -How can I tell if auto-vacuum is working effectively for me? -Is there a way to check that my table statistics are being collected usefully? -How do you measure index bloat and fix it if it's bad? -What should I be paying attention to in the pg_stat* views? -What's the useful range for configuring background writer parameters? There are partial answers to all these questions in the archives because these topics come up regularly, and these are addressed to some extent in the documentation. But the information is really spread out and it's unreasonable to expect people will find it even if they know what to look for--which they usually don't, they just know things are running slowly but don't know why. Writing stuff like this is unglamorous, usually takes much longer than originally expected once you're deep enough in the writing research to have mapped out the whole area, is hard to keep current as version advances obsolete the content, and as I already mentioned writing pays badly compared to consulting to fix these problems for individual clients instead (and really badly compared to selling training services). That means on top of there not being a large pool of qualified writers, some of the people who'd be in a great position to write have a strong economic incentive not to share their respective secret sauces. -- * Greg Smith gsmith@gregsmith.com http://www.gregsmith.com Baltimore, MD
hunteke@earlham.edu (Kevin Hunter) writes:
> At 9:52p -0700 on 31 Jul 2007, Greg Smith wrote:
>> On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Kevin Hunter wrote:
>>> Considering the absolutely ginormous volume of knowledge and the
>>> number of _extremely_ intelligent people on this list, I think the
>>> problem may be more "instant recall" or ideas than the fact that they
>>> have "nothing to write about." Knowing about what to write is
>>> generally the crux.
>>
>> Knowing how to do something and being able to turn that into a written
>> article about it are two slightly different skill sets, and you have to
>> get both of them in the same person to create such content. It's
>> possible to get something workable out of non-writers, but then you need
>> to devote substantial editing resources to polishing it and that has its
>> own set of issues.
>
> Okay.
>
>> If you take the subset of the community that understands the material,
>> then intersect with those who can write, then see who's left you'll find
>> a small group of people without much spare time;
>
> Pardon my ignorance, but I don't know who comprises any of those groups:
> without naming names, how many writers are you suggesting the community
> actually has? I'm not pushing for something that is beginning to sound
> like an unfeasible request, especially since I'm not in that small
> group, but I am curious
I could readily name probably 8 to 10 people who would be in "that
group;" the list of people who have authored books isn't terribly
secret. Various of them (us ;-)) have "weighed in" on this very
thread.
If they could all participate, that would be great, and it would quite
likely be enough to work. It could readily grow itself to a dozen
authors, and that would seem enough to allow a "PostgreSQL Journal" to
work.
The trouble is that writing for a new magazine would be a distraction
from other existing/ongoing efforts, so that I don't think that more
than a fraction of the set would be prepared to participate.
A "PostgreSQL Journal" with 4 contributors would not seem viable, in
contrast.
Better, in that case, to have periodic contributions to (say)
publications that write about multiple DBMSes.
--
output = reverse("moc.enworbbc" "@" "enworbbc")
http://linuxfinances.info/info/postgresql.html
What do little birdies see when they get knocked unconscious?
Greg Smith wrote: > Some sample article ideas I've culled from watching what people ask about > on the performance list (the main area I follow) are: > > -How can I tell if auto-vacuum is working effectively for me? > -Is there a way to check that my table statistics are being collected > usefully? > -How do you measure index bloat and fix it if it's bad? > -What should I be paying attention to in the pg_stat* views? > -What's the useful range for configuring background writer parameters? - How do encodings work? - How do timezones work? - How to configure autovacuum? -- Alvaro Herrera http://www.CommandPrompt.com/ PostgreSQL Replication, Consulting, Custom Development, 24x7 support