As a developer working on tools used by authors, and an author myself, I am more than aware of the limitations of technical documentation. So it doesn’t surprise me that Developers May Be Getting 50% of Their Documentation From Stack Overflow.
So why not base technical documentation on Stack Overflow?
The internet, and sites like Stack Overflow, are a great resource when you know what you don’t know. When you can articulate the problem you face in the form of a Google search, then there is a good chance you can find a solution.
By what happens when you don’t know what you don’t know? If you have no context or frame of reference in which to describe your lack of understanding, then you’re kind of screwed. Because while the internet can answer specific questions, open ended “What do I need to know?” questions either quickly become bogged down with trolling, or are explicitly banned.
This is where formal documentation still has an edge. It collates and organises information in such a way as to provide the information you need to know without you needing to know that you need to know it.
Kuna provides a way to organise the information held in the Stack Exchange network within a book like structure. It’s like Wikibooks, but based on an existing, vibrant and knowledgeable community, and building off content that is already showing up in your Googling.