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Scott Holstad wrote:
>
> At 10:11 AM 9/1/98 -0500, Miles Kimball wrote:
> >Beth --
> >
> >I know we'd like to think that what we're doing is objective, scientific,
> >and, well, technical -- but isn't all technical writing a form of marketing
> >information to audiences?
> >
>
> Yee, that sends chills up my spine.... No, I disagree. When I'm producing
> hardcore engineering schematics and supporting documentation for my
> engineers, I do not need to market or convince anyone at all of the value
> of this data. I feel sorry for those who do.
Sure you do. You are selling them on the documentation's credibility and
reinforcing their reliance upon your documentation. You start producing
crap and loose their trust that your documentation is the most reliable
source for their needs and 1) they will find somewhere else to get the
information or 2) they will find someone else to produce it for them.
BTW...I am producing material for hardcore UNIX software engineers and I
must continue to reinforce their reliance upon my stuff.
--
John Posada, Technical Writer (and interviewing for next contract)
The world's premier Internet fax service company: The FaxSav Global
Network
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My opinions are mine, and neither you nor my company can take credit for
them.
"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good
poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few
reasonable words.", Goethe
"Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader
will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will
certainly misunderstand them.", John Ruskin
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish,
and he will sit in a boat and smoke cigars all day."
