[authors] Most urgent reviewing/editing requirements

[Jean Hollis Weber]

A special welcome to Barbara! (And anyone else who has recently joined, 
but whose message I've overlooked.)

I am delighted to see that there was a lot of discussion on the list 
over the past several days, while I was offline. I may have missed some 
of the points in some notes in my first pass through my over-full inbox, 
but I get the impression that Gary has been suggesting some work on 
items that I consider of far less urgency than reviewing the draft V3 
chapters for CONTENT.

In particular, someone needs to check whether what's in the draft V3 
material is accurate, and whether anything important is missing. 
Checking for accuracy involves little more than following the 
instructions and seeing if OOo works as described. Checking if info is 
missing is a bit more difficult, but IMO if something is missing, that's 
okay -- much better than including something that's wrong. (We don't try 
to cover everything in detail, but there might be some immportant new 
features that should be mentioned, but aren't.)

In my opinion, checking the accuracy of the Getting Started guide should 
be the first priority, not least because the translators usually start 
with that book before moving on to the books for individual components.

Second (nearly equal) priority is checking the Writer Guide for 
accuracy... noting that some of the chapters have had NO ONE go through 
them yet updating them (if needed) to V3. (I'd have to check which ones 
are in that category; Michele mentioned them on the list a week or so ago.)

In my view, matters of style, consistency, and appearance -- while 
important -- are much less important than CONTENT at this point. And IMO 
this is NOT the time to get deflected into using other tools, no matter 
how valuable those tools may be in the longer term. Leave that until we 
have a set of accurate, up-to-date books ready for release with OOoV3 or 
asap thereafter.

Obviously, you're all volunteers, so you can do whatever interests you 
most, or whatever you feel most comfortable with -- but I urge everyone 
to *please* do some serious reviewing if at all possible.

Thanks!

--Jean