TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
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Maybe the list admin can give us an update on the struggle to [re-]integrate the list with the forum - and get the list mentioned on the site, with some links to join - in the weekly round-up.
Has anybody else, on another site or blog, managed to get a forum and a mailing list to integrate smoothly?
Or do our beloved list owners have all the arrows in their butts (from being pioneers)?
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael McCallister
Sent: February-13-14 11:39 AM
To: TECHWR-L (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)
Cc: Connie Giordano
Subject: Re: ghost town
David: I think I still have Peter Kent's book; it was helpful when I got started.
On Google: When your search results come up, over in the upper right corner of the page, you'll see a pair of icons. The default setting is the little head-and-shoulders icon indicating personalized results. Click the globe next to it, and you'll see what you used to see. In a search for technical writing (no quotes), the Top 5 results were the same for me: Two Wikipedia articles, the Bureau of Labor Statistics article, Techwhirl's "What is Technical Writing?" page (which I think Connie wrote), and a PDF for MIT's Basics of Technical Writing, Part 1.
Now if you click on that link to TechWhirl, you wouldn't know that there's a mailing list associated with the site. You would know there's a forum, because it's in the navigation. Perhaps that's a hint as to "where the youth are." Similarly, there's no "Subscribe to TechWr-L" button. There's a link to the archives, but ... perhaps there's a conclusion to be drawn, but I won't go there.
This is a discussion worth having, BTW.
*Michael McCallister*
ProTek Writing Services
On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 9:58 AM, David Renn <daverenn08 -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> The only reason I found this listserv is because this past summer I
> picked up a book by Peter Kent called *Making Money in Technical
> Writing*. It just so happens that this book was published in the 90s.
> I'm relatively new to the industry having only been in tech writing
> for 5 1/2 years, so when it came to searching for material about our
> industry, I would basically stick with STC and all things affiliated
> and a few blogs, most namely by Tom Johnson and Mark Baker. It took me 5 years to find techwr-l.
>
> I think the format of the listserv is a bit 90s still, which may be
> why it's tough to find. Although, to be honest, techwr-l might be my
> favorite source of industry information these days, and it's nice to
> be able to post a quick question and receive 5 enthusiastic responses within an hour.
>
> I think the listserv is tough to find because when you typically
> search for technical writing-related material, STC pops up first and
> is basically the dominant industry community. I like Techwhirl better,
> but it's much tougher to find. I feel like people need to stumble into it by chance to find it.
> Then the listserv is even tougher to find, and it has an outdated
> feel, which may turn away some prospective members.
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 10:40 AM, Milan DavidoviÄ
> <milan -dot- lists -at- gmail -dot- com
> >wrote:
>
> > Also, in search results for "technical writing" (with or without
> > quotes), where does this list (or the site) appear? When I do the
> > search on Google, I don't see it on the first page.
> >
> > --Milan DavidoviÄ
> >
> > Sent from my Commercial Visible 6
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 3:51 PM, Dan Goldstein
> > <DGoldstein -at- cytomedix -dot- com
> >
> > wrote:
> > > In theory, someone other than the moderators could volunteer to
> > > spread
> > the good word.
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
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