Ludwik's recent posting of a misconceptions list has brought back to
mind the original concept of a FAQ. Here I don't mean a web page
telling you why you should buy product X (the current standard for FAQ),
but a list of questions together with a summary of the points that are
usually brought up in the group when each question is raised.
In the last eight years I've lost track of how many times I've seen the
question of how skating really works raised in this group, and I haven't
even been continuously subscribed in that time. Lets just that say I
pretty sure its been more than twice.
When Ludwik posted his list I found a couple of items that I had told my
class this summer - straight out of the textbook - however all I had was
the statements that these were wrong without any sort of correction.
Now I could pose them to the group as a question, but to be on the list
they have presumably been addressed here at least once before. So how
often is it worthwhile to repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and
repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat
and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat and
repeat the same thing? This is where a FAQ comes in - it lets us focus
on new angles by having a common reference.
If enough of us agree that expanding Ludwik's list into a FAQ would be
worthwhile it would mean that various people would take charge of
providing summaries to cover each item. Finding places to post the FAQ
would be quite easy. For one, I would certainly be happy to put a
mirror onto my University of Winnipeg pages.