RE: for general discussion

["Tulloch, Michael" <mtullo01 -at- harris -dot- com>]

*shrugs* The example wasn't the best I've ever created, and I wasn't meaning to
say "use you even when you can avoid it." By all means, if you can avoid it, do
so. But if you want to reduce the distance between user and reader, and increase
the perceived friendliness of a doc, "you" is the way to go.

~Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony Kelly [mailto:alkelly71 -at- hotmail -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 8:35 AM
To: mtullo01 -at- harris -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Subject: RE: for general discussion


>Michael said:
>(To wit, "If you need to do X, then..." beats the poopy pants off
>of "If the user needs to do this, then he or she needs to...")
>

I agree with you Michael, but wouldn't "Open X and click New to create Y" 
improve on using any pronoun at all?

I don't agree that removing the use of "You" means that the procedure must 
be constrained in some way. A direct active voice uncluttered by any 
pronouns at all (first or third person) seems the way to go (IMO).

Anthony

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