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Subject:Re: Are tech writers inherently snobby? From:voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com> To:Wade Courtney <wade -dot- courtney -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:17:02 -0400
I must be acronym-challenged. CMOS to me is a type of integrated circuit
(and highly likely an out-of-date one at that).
-a different W
On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 6:45 PM, Wade Courtney <wade -dot- courtney -at- gmail -dot- com>wrote:
> If I were you, I'd change my email, my phone, and my address...just to be
> safe oh and arm yourself with the latest CMOS!!!
>
>
> W
>
> On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 2:57 PM, Karen Field Carroll <kfcarroll -at- cox -dot- net
> >wrote:
>
> > Whoops--No, Gene has nothing to do with this! I'm terribly sorry if the
> > message gave that impression (and specific apologies to Gene).
> >
> > Gee, I can't wait to see what kind of hostility a mistake like this draws
> > to
> > my Inbox. :)
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Combs, Richard [mailto:richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com]
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 2:53 PM
> > To: Karen Field Carroll; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > Subject: RE: Are tech writers inherently snobby?
> >
> > Karen, did you mean to reply to Gene's message (which you quoted below),
> > or was that inadvertent? His post doesn't seem to have anything to do
> > with your font question, wasn't off-list, and isn't arrogant, so I don't
> > see how it can be related to your question. But others looking at it
> > casually might assume otherwise.
> >
> > Richard
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: techwr-l-bounces+richard -dot- combs=polycom -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > > [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+richard.combs<techwr-l-bounces%2Brichard.combs>
> <techwr-l-bounces%2Brichard.combs>
> > =polycom -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
> > On
> > > Behalf Of Karen Field Carroll
> > > Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 3:42 PM
> > > To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > > Subject: Are tech writers inherently snobby?
> > >
> > > Hello.
> > > For the second time in two days, I've posted to the list and gotten an
> > > off-line reply that I thought reeked with arrogance. Each time I wrote
> > back
> > > and asked for clarification on the tone, because, as I'll be the first
> > to
> > > tell you, I'm somewhat defensive and tend to read a lot into e-mails,
> > and
> > > so
> > > I wanted to be sure I'm not being my over-protective self. (In today's
> > > case,
> > > the tone was so obvious I'm pretty darn sure it's not just me.) But
> > this is
> > > such a consistent pattern--I've worked with many writers who thought
> > they
> > > hung the moon--that I'm starting to wonder if people in our profession
> > > (including me, because I can definitely be a snob) are prone to being
> > a
> > > holier-than-thou.
> > > Any thoughts?
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: techwr-l-bounces+kfcarroll=cox -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > > [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+kfcarroll <techwr-l-bounces%2Bkfcarroll><techwr-l-bounces%2Bkfcarroll>=
> > cox -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
> > Behalf Of
> > > Gene Kim-Eng
> > > Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 1:47 PM
> > > To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > > Subject: Re: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?
> > >
> > > I have my doubts about this one. I think control enhancements will
> > still
> > > keep
> > > most of the maintenance and repair operations out of the hands of end
> > > users,
> > > and
> > > the "future enhanced" spinning wheel will do more but require no more
> > user
> > > skill
> > > than the old models peoples' grandmothers used to teach them to use.
> > If
> > > equipment becomes more design-for-service oriented and moves away from
> > > disposability, the maintenance and repair manuals will still be there,
> > but
> > > as
> > > long as the "back to basics" trend doesn't go all the way back to
> > people
> > > having
> > > their stuff made locally by village smithies, the people doing the
> > related
> > > work
> > > will be providers of repair services. There will always be some
> > people
> > > techy
> > > and ambitious enough to want the Sams Photofact book, but most will
> > bring
> > > their
> > > stuff to the repair shop or call the traveling fixers the way they
> > used to
> > > back
> > > in the days of tube radios and TVs and cars with distributor caps and
> > > carburetors.
> > >
> > > The transition of tech writers' jobs *back* to being more interesting
> > and
> > > more
> > > down-to-earth, but requiring more knowledge of what goes on under the
> > > hood.has
> > > already been in motion for some time now.
> > >
> > > Gene Kim-Eng
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
> > > When your equipment is solid and meant to last, you'll tend to learn a
> > bit
> > > about
> > > how to maintain and fix it, rather than count on throwing it away and
> > > replacing
> > > it because a new one /i/s/ used to be cheaper than a repair.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
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> > 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
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> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
> Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
> 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
>http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
>http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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