RE: Nostradamus the technical writer?

Subject: RE: Nostradamus the technical writer?
From: "Frederick Menezes" <frederickmenezes -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 17:55:13 +0530

>>>"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> wrote in message
news:<121664 -at- techwr-l>...
(As Geoff desperately tries to drag this thread back on-topic ...)

Interesting that amidst this thread, nobody's observed how good a technical
writer Nostradamus was. Lacking clear or definitive product specifications
(for the future), or access to the designer (okay... the Designer, with
a...<<<

A contra view that was posted on the Technical Writers of India (TWIN)
mailing list.

sent by Edwin Skau...

10 reasons for us to believe that Nostradamus was not a technical writer.

1) He did not bother with an audience profile
2) The purpose and scope of his work was not clearly defined
3) He did not provide a table of terms and conventions
4) He did not provide a glossary
5) References are not identified and listed
6) He did not use figures or tables
7) He did not use numbered or bulleted lists
8) The information he delivered was cloaked in esoteric quatrains
9) He did not index his work

10) Last but not the least, the information has had nil utility value. ALL
of his "prophesies" have been interpreted in retrospect.

added by Shyam Balachandran...

0) People read what he wrote


__Frederick__




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