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Subject:Question marks in titles? (take II) From:Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 01 Feb 2005 10:51:06 -0500
Earlier in this thread, I noted that "... question titles certainly
make sense in FAQs--which aren't, after all, "frequently stated
imperative declarations using present participles". <g>" Eric Dunn
wondered: <<But, how helpful is a FAQ that simply regurgitates
questions as asked?>>
Pretty damned useless imho. Enough so that I was inspired to ruminate
at length on how an FAQ can be done so that it's actually something
useful enough to bother reading: Hart, G.J. 2004. Just the FAQs.
Intercom May 2004:24-26.
<<Shouldn't a FAQ about printer configuration be structured and titled
in the same manner as a quick reference card to be more useful?>>
Of course. That's why you'll note in my first response in this thread
the following words: "FAQs... are well beloved of techies everywhere,
***providing that they're well designed and make it easy to find
specific questions***". (Emphasis added post hoc.)
<<IMO, to be truly useful, a FAQ should be something akin to an index
or quick reference card. The only difference is the organisation as
more importance needs to be given to more frequent problems.>>
Perhaps you've read my article? <g>
<<Actually, that raises the question: with a good index, is there any
need for a FAQ?>>
With apologies to Will, "an FAQ by any other name would still be an
FAQ".
--Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
www.geoff-hart.com
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