RE: I *do* have better things to do :)

[Tim Mantyla <TimMantyla -at- nustep -dot- com>]

> From: "Tariel, Lauren R" <lt34 -at- saclink -dot- csus -dot- edu>
> Subject: RE: RE: I *do* have better things to do  :)

> I would like to know what part of this thread is "on-topic" with 
> respect to technical writing?  I realize that the "better things to 
> do" thread began as a complaint about a discussion that the 


1) I couldn't post my "final word" to the list "on time" due to a 
technical issue.


> Administrator had effectively ended.  So the original complaint 
> never discussed anything related to technical writing and it really 

2) Between the lines: some things are not necessary to tech writing 
discussions because they're too inconsequential to matter...so the entire 
"spaces after a period" discussion was "off-topic" IMHO.
One could simply ask oneself: "Who could possibly be affected in any 
material way by one or two spaces after a period?"

> was not necessary to end the previously ended thread, but some 
> infrequent posters needed to vent.  Now that the complaint-laden 


2) Yes, I like to vent...especially when there is a humorous point to be 
made at about those who would count the number of angels that dance on the 
head of a pin, filling up a listserv with mental dander...

BTW, here is a wonderful article on the immense value of play that may 
enlighten anyone wondering why people banter back and forth or poke fun at 
the ridiculous:

http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Literacy/Play.asp

> thread has moved into some banter about serifs on a pinhead, I 
> really don't see where technical writing fits in.  Or how complaints
> and off-topic are really something "better to do." 


To all and the admin:  Perhaps a "Humor & Fun Stuff" forum/posting place 
is needed here on Tech-Whirl?  It doesn't fit exactly here with the 
business of sharing tech writing info, but the need and value is clear, 
evidenced by the online activity. Our work is often dry, workplaces create 
pressures on us writers, and our obsessive nature makes us perhaps more 
prickly than other folk...so let's wax humorous, somewhere if not here!

> Isn't it hypocritical to complain that a discussion about 
> typographical rules is a waste of listserv space and then follow 
> that complaint with inane banter about nothing?  That's a rhetorical

It's only hypocritical if the same person is doing it...others did the 
follow-up banter...which was certainly "off-topic" but not necessarily 
"about nothing," as I explain above and below.

> question because it is hypocritical.
> 
> Lauren



> From: Gary Schnabl <gSchnabl -at- LivernoisYards -dot- com>
> John Hedtke wrote:
> > heels.  Let us move forward; I'm sure we can discuss how many Adobe 
fonts 
> > can fit on the head of a pin or something.
> > 
> 
> Apparently, **one** of those better things to do was bitching that a 
> particular thread was continuing for too long...

Reasons these responses *are* better things to do:

1) communicate a valid point with mind-bending humor (see above, re: play 
makes the mind more relaxed and a relaxed mind works better, thinks more 
clearly, envision and imagine more clearly and innovatively...) to a 
constructive purpose or two.

2) find like-minded writers to commune with.


> Would you complain to a radio station because you heard a certain song 
> too many times? Maybe, you would.

I do! Action is better than suffering. And any seller of products (radio 
station) has to be responsive to its customers or it wonkl't 
succeed...feedback is essential to effective communication--a key point in 
tech writing, too, lest this be seen as "off-topic." How do we know we did 
a good job unless people give feedback?


Tim Mantyla


"Why not go stark raving *glad*??"
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