Does a Professional Tech Writer need to follow the Chicago of Style?

[DHICKEY -at- ALIS -dot- COM]

Greetings!

I just got into a discussion with a fellow tech writer about Style Guides.

Now I have my own style guide which is an amalgamation of styles which has
been hammered into me by a variety of editors over the years. This style
guide isn't really published anywhere. It's just the way I tend to write and
the rules I choose to use to govern style and layout.

I own a few style guides, and when it comes to a conflict on what to use, I
consult each one until I find a convention that works for me. I don't really
like conforming to one rule just because it comes from "The Chicago Manual
of Style". It may not apply in my case or even to technical writing in
general!

For example (and please don't start a thread on this!), I like to use the
serial comma. I think it's cleaner and clearer. Let's say you have a
sentence like: "Eric revoked the posting priviledges of Andrew, David,
George, and Jane." If you don't put a comma before the "and", George and
Jane become an implied grouping like they're a couple or something. That's
my take on it. But if the Chicago Manual of Style says you should never use
a serial comma, should I bleat and just accept it? I think not.

But is this a professional attitude? Should I be relying on one particular
(published) style guide when creating documents? Or is it more important to
use your own rules consistently and wisely? What is considered more
professional?
--
Be seeing you,

Dave
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John David Hickey
Montreal, Quebec, Canada eh?

dhickey -at- alis -dot- com
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/7829/
wk: 514-747-2542 ext.: 317
pg: 514-205-9209

They say that the pen is mightier than the sword.
But if you miss a deadline, you'd better bring the sword.
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Don't confuse my opinion with my employer's.
Each exists in blissful ignorance of the other.

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