ADMIN Keeping off-list messages off the list, and a rules reminder

["Lisa M. Bronson" <lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com>]

If someone writes you a private, off-list message, do not make it public
by forwarding it, in full, in part, or paraphrased, to the list. Doing so
is not only off-topic to the rest of the list members, it is unfair to the
person who wrote to you. If something you receive off-list seems
inappropriate, please be the mature adults I know you are and do your best
to ignore it. If it is a threat or in some other way beyond being ignored,
forward it to me. And no matter what someone says to you DO NOT attack
them personally, on or off the list.

Bonnie, I have suspended your posting privileges until you contact me off
list and agree to follow the posting rules of TECHWR-L. Michelle has
already left the list, or she'd have been suspended as well.

This list is for technical communication issues only. Please stay on
topic. A complete copy of the posting rules is included below.

Lisa B.


&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I strongly encourage everyone to read and understand these rules before
posting to TECHWR-L. Any list member may be removed from the list, at the
listowner's discretion, for flagrant or repeated infractions.
Additionally, if you are abusive to the listowner or other list members,
you may be removed from the list.


Check the archives before posting
Archives are available at

    * http://lists.techwr-l.com/archives/techwr-l.html
    * http://www.documentation.com/techwrit/techwrit-l.htm
    * http://www.deja.com/ and at http://www.reference.com/. 



What to post

    * If it is about technical communication and of general interest, post
it.
    * If it is about technical communication and original and humorous,
post it.



What not to post

    * If it doesn't clearly and directly relate to technical
communication, don't post it.
    * If it relates to language use but not technical communication, it
probably isn't appropriate. Don't post it.
    * If it relates to computer use but not technical communication, it
probably isn't appropriate. Don't post it.
    * If it continues an irrelevant thread in any way (rebuttal, rebuke,
rerun, revision, remark), don't post it.
    * If it is a personal message to a single subscriber, don't post it.
Even if mail to that person bounces.
    * If you aren't sure, don't post it.
    * If it is a test message, do not post it. Ever. Contact the listowner
if you have problems posting or with your subscription, or send a test
message to techwr-l-test -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com to check your mail settings.
    * If it's a job ad or other ad, don't post it--send it to
lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com for inclusion in the daily ad posting.
    * If it is something cute, interesting, or funny that you found on the
Internet (e.g. Dr. Seuss on Tech Writing, origin of spam), don't post it.
I assure you that most readers have seen it already.

Other

    * Check your facts on anything you post. Do not under any
circumstances post virus warnings or anything else designed to be
"forwarded to everyone you know" to this list.
    * Do not directly attack anyone for anything on the list. Take issue
with ideas, not personalities, and do NOT point out grammatical, spelling,
or usage errors. This forum is not the place to exercise editorial
frustration.
    * Edit all unnecessary quoted messages and TECHWR-L footers out of
your postings, and make sure that you send only plain text messages and no
attachments to the list.
    * Please do not post ads in any form. Send job ads and other ads to
announce to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com for inclusion in the daily ad posting.
    * Please make sure your E-mail address is included in the body of the
message you post to the list.
    * If responses are sent to you--not to the whole list--please
summarize and post the entire summary back to the list. A summary should
include attributions so others can pick up conversations offline if
necessary with original posters. When you send a summary back to the list,
use the word "SUMMARY" as the first word of the "Subject" line."
    * Direct all commentary about this message to my address, not the
list.

The inappropriate posting scenario
Revised 31 July 1998

(Listowner's Note: The "thanks" notations are for the contributions to the
scenario, not pointed digs at people who committed these infractions.)

You are in a large lecture hall full of people in your profession.
Included in the audience are students, educators, professionals. You
cannot make out their faces, but they could reasonably include your
employers or potential employers, your coworkers, and the ever-present
violently obsessive technical writing groupies.

Most of the audience members sit quietly as one member at a time gets up,
walks to the podium, and shares information or advice or asks questions.
Some of it is rich and detailed, some cursory but helpful, some trivial
but relevant in a roundabout way. Somewhere in this stream of information,
someone expresses an opinion or gives a piece of advice that you feel
obligated to respond to.

You get out of your seat and walk to the front of the room, everyone's
eyes upon you. ...

(Listowner's note: At this point, the paths may diverge. Some of the
following unfortunate cases have been played out over the past few years.)

   1. You approach the podium, clear your throat, and say "Me, too." You
are greeted with a combination of quizzical, patronizing smirks and
incredulous silence.
   2. You relate that really good joke about Microsoft and operating
systems that you overheard at the restaurant last night. Some laugh. Some
wonder why you just now heard it. Many wonder why you'd use their chance
to discuss technical communication to tell a old joke.
   3. You take your turn at the microphone to clarify a point. One of the
previous speakers had mentioned, in the context of developing and using
context-sensitive, interactive help files, that they used MS Word v3.0.
Obviously, that's incorrect, therefore you clarify that they MUST have
used a different version because that one didn't even exist. Not only
that, but the incompetence of anyone who could make such a mistake is
certainly astounding. It only takes you about 10 minutes to impress upon
everyone that you know far better than the speaker what versions of Word
exist. (You don't make any points about the issue at hand, but your
audience has already made their assumptions about your knowledge in that
area.)
   4. "Does anyone know how much the cheapest Internet service provider in
Kansas costs?"
   5. You replay the entire videotape of the MS Word v3.0 speaker,
including the introduction, the walk to the podium, and the walk back to a
seat. The quality isn't all that hot, but it's important to make sure
everyone knows the context in which you speak. 12 minutes later, you point
out that there is in fact a version of MS Word v3.0 and you had used it
once, briefly, but didn't like it much and would always choose Frame.
Furthermore, anyone who uses any version of Word is a certifiable idiot
and if your company or clients require Word, you should quit and find a
real company. You return to your seat satisfied about your demonstrated TW
proficiency and wonder about the copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence
People" that ended up on your chair. (Thanks to Jim Barton for the initial
suggestion and Arlen Walker for the quibble.)
   6. You take your chance at the podium to publicly mock the
pronunciation and diction of the three speakers before you, not to mention
their poor spelling on overheads. As you return to your seat, someone
passes you a note pointing out that one of the three is hard of hearing,
one is not a native speaker of English, and that many people in the world
don't see a problem with spelling "defense" as "defence". Whoops! Oh,
well, you think, they'll get over it.
   7. You walk up to the podium and say "I'm glad you all finally stopped
talking about that subject, because you were wasting everyone's time. I'm
so relieved we're not discussing it any more." (Thanks to Tracy Boyington
for this one.)
   8. You reach the microphone and say the exact same thing that all 8
people before you have said because you didn't bother to listen to them.
(Thanks to Chris Boehm.)
   9. You piously denounce the majority of subjects that have been
discussed thus far as irrelevant to the original scope of the conference,
berate the conference organizers for allowing such irrelevancies to be
introduced into the dialogue, and announce that you will leave the
auditorium if discussion of such issues continues.
  10. You complain that the seminar does not provide a wide enough scope
for discussion of your particular interests (which may be of only cursory
interest to a minority of people attending the conference), accuse the
conference organizers of promoting censorship, and ask if anyone knows of
another conference organized by nonfacists. (Thanks to Bill Burns for
these last 2.)
  11. You try to leave the auditorium, but forget how, so instead of
looking for exit signs or asking the usher, you go to the front and ask
everybody. (Thanks to Lorin C. Ledger for this one.)

As you walk back to your seat, you try to make out the faces around you.
(Thanks to Lisa Higgins for the original scenario)


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5 - SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION!

RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring all new Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! View an online demo: http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.