TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: THANKS! Re: It's time to go From:"Damien Braniff" <DBraniff -at- amphion -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 6 Mar 2002 09:44:36 -0000
I've been on the list for several years now and have noticed a slight
change in tone on the list. Originally I read every post but then it
became a matter of:
Threads of interest - terminated when they wandered (probably lost some
useful stuff along the way)
Selected writers - those with posts that were usually
informative/humourous/helpful etc regardless of topic
I still occasionally read all the messages if there's a bit of slack but
normally judicial use of Delete keeps the reading fairly short.
A few things come to mind reading this thread:
1 If you feel like shouting, take a deep breath and count slowly to
ten and then shout or more likely not - well known to parents. Step back
a little - it can make a BIG difference to what you might post. That
difference can keep a thread on course and civil.
2 People get passionate about some things (we all do). Think about how
you'd react to comments about your particular passion before replying
(back to counting to ten again!)
3 Don't get personal. We're supposed to be professional communicators
and we can't argue/debate a topic without degenerating to name calling
then we're in trouble. There's a difference between debate and well
argued reasoning and what we sometimes see. Thankfully it is, I feel,
still quite rare considering the size of the list. Still it's a very
fine line at times bearing in mind how passionate people can get - see
(2).
4 In long threads it's sometimes easy to lose sight of the original
post. While we have an impression of the people on the list we don't
KNOW them (try matching names against the pictures on 'Friendly Faces'
of those who post). We're replying based on information provided;
sometimes we ask for more information, sometimes we hypothesise and
sometimes (when the thread roams) we completely lose track of the
original post.
5 As with everything in life, you get out what you put in. In a
sense, as others have said, it's OUR list and if we want it to change
then it's up to us.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Check it out! Get some cool freebies when you buy RoboHelp! You'll receive
SnagIt screen capture software and a 10% discount voucher for RoboHelp
Consulting. This special offers expires March 29, 2002.
www.ehelp.com/techwr
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
