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From:
"Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>
To:
"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date:
10/07/2011 11:05 AM
Subject:
More Platonisms
Sent by:
techwr-l-bounces+m -dot- vina-baltsas=mindray -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
I keep a file of aphorisms, bon mots, clever email sig lines, etc., and it
contains a number of quotes from Andrew Plato, including these:
"You can lead people to enlightenment, but you can't flick the switch for
them."
"...programmers are more impressed with raw ungodly power than niceties. I
mean, why else would anybody use UNIX?"
" Thus, subject matter will always be more important than style or
structure. Heck, take a look at the Bible. Its a mess. Confusing sections,
contradictions, terrible information mapping - yet people treat it like
its the word of God! Proving that even God doesn't care about style. As
long as you get the point, you're okay."
"... look at the title 'Technical Writer'. Write the first word on a 3 x 5
Card and stare at it for a long time ... let it sink in ..."
"...You're half a technical writer if all you can do is write. Remember,
your profession has TWO components: TECHNICAL and WRITER. You can't eschew
one in favor of the other.
"...Ignorance is not a valuable commodity regardless of how you spin it.
You don't impress people with your astounding ability to NOT understand
something."
"You cannot, under any circumstances, produce intelligent and useful
documentation if you don't understand the content."
Welcome back, Andrew. Hope you stick around.
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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