RE: OT? Community and tech writing in real life (was Re: Ambiguouswords and Phrases)

["Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com>]

I can't speak for other tech writers with degrees in philosophy, but the
reason I didn't chime in is that an ethics guide for technical
communicators is arguably unnecessary. The ethical requirements of what
we do are simple: Write truthfully about topics needed by ones audience
in a way that is transparent and useful to ones audience.

If you don't write transparently or truthfully, what you write will not
be useful to your audience. Useless products don't survive very long in
the marketplace. Furthermore, if one is so grossly negligent as to write
something that results in damages, ones corporation and perhaps even one
personally could be legally liable.

What would arguably be much more useful than an ethics guide is a
"Technical Writing Best Practices" guide.

-Leonard Porrello


-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+leonardp=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+leonardp=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Ned Bedinger
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:57 AM
To: Tim Mantyla
Cc: richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: OT? Community and tech writing in real life (was Re:
Ambiguouswords and Phrases)

Tim Mantyla wrote:
> 
>  > From: Tim Mantyla <TimMantyla -at- nustep -dot- com>
>  > This is one thread that's spilling over into "real life" issues, a
> ...
>  > Why not explore more on the ethics of communication?


I'm a little surprised that some of the philosophy-trained tech writers 
on this list haven't stepped up to your challenge.  Ethics is a branch 
of philosophy, isn't it?

> 
> Sorry, I don't understand that or how it would work. What does "a 
> default tech writing context" mean in Simplified Technical English (a 
> great idea, BTW), and how does it relate to the monkey-baiting and 
> Poli-sci and Ecology 101 posts?  :-)

It's like anything else. If you present too many choices, people will 
give up and choose none. D'oh, nevermind.
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