Write-only documentation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Write-only documentation (WOD) is a tongue-in-cheek term for documentation that is written to satisfy a process but never read subsequent to its writing.
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[edit] Derogatory term
While write-only documentation may have began as a derogatory term assigned by technical writers/programmers to documentation that had no other use than to be a required text to meet contractual obligations, the term is in use as a general term for documentation that is seen to be a waste of effort.
[edit] Passing comments
Most online references to write-only documentation are made in passing when explaining or writing about some other subject. For example, the term is used in passing when building the case for "write-only memory" which was a famous April fool's day joke, in discussing a community project, when discussing accountability in running software building projects, and referring to a project as potential to degenerate into write-only documentation.
[edit] Overall use of the term in language
While the term "write-only documentation" has been in use for several years (we can determine that it was in use in 1995), it is unclear as to where it started to gain traction and what has led to its general use in software projects/documentation projects. Search engines, such as Google, specifically makes use of the full term "write-only documentation" about 27 to 30 times, while Yahoo provides us with links to 38 examples, and in each case there are about three of the references that arise from the Wikipedia references.
