Re: FAQs - Good or bad?

[arroxaneullman -at- aol -dot- com]

I'm currently in the process of creating an FAQ as the first baby step 
towards a full Knowlegebase (*fingers crossed* we hope). I'm also the 
lone TW/editor/etc. IMO, FAQs are a great thing--but not a long-term 
solution. They are a way to circulate answers to those "dumb" or 
"silly" questions that customers ask "all the time."

You may be able to see what I'm working on here (I'm not sure whether 
the link requires a log-in right now):
www.sundancedigital.com/New%20Support/FAQ2.html.

Note that if you _can_ see the site, those are dummy questions, since I 
am waiting (and waiting, and waiting...) for the real questions from 
our support staff. In the mean time, I try to have a little fun with my 
job. =)

If you can't see the site, well, no biggie. It's about the dryest type 
of FAQ on the planet. It also takes next to no time to create/update 
once you've got a template. Much more interesting FAQ software exists, 
but, since I'm dreaming of a grand, intricate KB in the long-run, the 
customers will have to suffice with this, for now.

Hope I could help, some. Good luck!

Arroxane Ullman
Senior Technical Writer
Sundance Digital, Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Brown <stevenabrown -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Fri, 13 May 2005 11:19:45 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: FAQs - Good or bad?

Hello all,

Working in a small company as the sole technical
writer, I often get requests from client reps, product
marketing, etc. specifically for frequently asked
questions (FAQs). When I hear that, I tend to start
twiching all over as if I were forced to watch a
day-long marathon of The Simple Life. Around here,
FAQs have become a catch-all term for documentation,
but I suspect there may be legitimate uses for them.

Would anyone be willing to share your success stories
(or horror stories) about how you've used FAQs. When
do you provide FAQs rather than more contextual
information or conceptual overviews?

Steven Brown
Technical Writer



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