Thanks for saying this: "The documentation has many problems, and there is plenty of room for improvement. Contributions are welcome. " Made my day
I just think there could be a better way. There could be a small info for each of the camera in particular for wierd behaviors. Have it available next to the firmware download or include it if it's not already in there. For the original problem, it really blew me a way that I had to google like crazy, join a forum, and to ask the question, then to hunt down the document for a "simple" thing. That's what amaze me.
I graduated with a computer science degree, but even with Linux, I had enough of it. We're talking about a very simple camera thing here, as simple as an on / off function. Just get people started to an acceptable level and then let the details fall in the larger document and the errata doc for each firmware version is all I ask. To me, it's painful to not know about the auto hack. So aside from testing the hack, being able to shoot raw (something that seems popular), and to read raw, and to make sure the camera is configured properly to shoot raw, then let people know how to auto start the thing. It's all related to raw right, so put stuff there. You can even have a popup in firmware to tell people what to press to create the hotpixel file.. it' about minimizing the "after support." Every word should be thought about. Who the heck would know what "shoot mode" ment.. I had that problem too.
I'm 30+ and love photography, and love SLR. Love clear and simple short instructions to get me started. The argument doesn't hold water when it comes to age cuz I bet you that if you have a 50+ year old or even a 45+ person, that person is even less inclined to search through all these docs just to find that really needed help that should have been included in the quick start guide. that's all I'm saying and my message is consistent throughout all the messages.
I believe all the nitty gritty detail and stuff could be left to the larger docs, but one should expect a customer facing doc that's clean and functional. the firmware download page should have a problems and solution for each firmware.. this way for those who are more technical, they know what's up. everything can't be covered in the large doc.. but can be in these errata docs next to each firmware -- since you brought it up.
Yes, I'm very aware that it's a hack, but that's giving excuses to making things clean and to minimize the headache and frustration. I should run a poll: a) are the old geezers more frustrated or b) the young-lings?
There's plenty of hacks for all sorts of electronics. But excuses are excuses.
I've detailed these problems about the documentation prior, so it is a problem for me and many other people: a) absolutely necessary info is buried deep in the document, or shall I say, multiple documents. And when I had a problem, I'm directed to search through a whole pile of documents until a nice soul pointed me to a specific area in one document, which I really appreciate. b) one of the document is written in pdf format where half the pages are upside down. 
Not everyone is interested in printing out the document. Then you have some readers who are less computer savy and they'd be upset figuring out how to rotate the pages. If anything, I'd make everything frustration free.
The documentation has many problems, and there is plenty of room for improvement. Contributions are welcome. That said, it seems to me you are missing something fundamental: CHDK is hack.
Making simple, concise instructions that are easily followed by non-technical users is an admirable goal. It's also completely unrealistic, because using CHDK isn't simple or non-technical.
To be accurate, the documentation needs to cover a lot of technical details and corner cases. Even so, the behavior is simply not fully understood or well defined in many cases. I've been a CHDK developer for several years, but I still frequently find my self having to experiment and dig through code and firmware disassembly to figure out how a particular feature works. After doing that, my results are only valid for a few cameras, subtle and not-so-subtle variations between ports and models are common.
