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Comment by vincentkriek | Hacker News Reader

Although it's nice that everything is in one place I don't think Github would be my first choice. It's made primarily for managing code and everything surrounding that. I do think the issue tracking translates very well over to "real life" issues.

Why are the legal documents not on GitHub though? That would be perfect for github.

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We've actually stored legal documents on Github in the past (think contracts, proposals, employee handbook, invoices...) as Markdown files. It felt very strange though to collaborate around files through Git. The `PULL > COMMIT > PUSH` workflow works well for a lot of things, not necessarily well when you're preparing a contract.

We've actually built a tool around Dropbox for that very use case. Happy to share it here when it's ready end of this month.

I actually imagine github would work quite well for this if office users edited directly from the github website.

You made your non-tech staff write Markdown files? How did that go? Also, about contracts — .doc/.docx is lingua franca. How did you deal with collaborating with the rest of the world?

1. We wrote a WYSIWYG for Markdown (https://github.com/Wiredcraft/Moleskin). Also, everybody learns Markdown at Wiredcraft.

2. Actually, the standard would be PDF for legal documents (never understood why people send you a contract in a format that is easily editable). The tool we're currently building allows you to use our WYSIWYG to collaboratively edit documents online while keeping Markdown in the backend.

never understood why people send you a contract in a format that is easily editable

All formats are easily editable; contracts should be digitally signed to prevent shenanigans.

The final version of a contract is certainly PDF, but during negotiations, people must be able to make and track edits. Git has these features covered, but I just can't imagine sending a Markdown contract draft file marked "FOR DISCUSSION ONLY, NOT INTENDED AS A BINDING CONTRACT" to a typical counterparty.

I guess that your WYSIWYG editor might do the trick — it depends on the extent to which your counterparties rely on MS Office tools.

Please do share, would be interested to see it.

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