Re: Ig Nobel documentation

["Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>]

As most of us are already aware, constraints of design, manufacturing, or  
law can make it impossible to read the manual, or even to find the manual.  
My favorite example is the can of bug spray. The directions are printed on  
the can, but in microscopic size. They begin with the ominous and  
mandatory phrase, "It is a violation of Federal Law ..." followed by many  
more required words. It's all repeated in microscopic Spanish or French so  
that speakers of those languages also cannot read it.

In earlier times the printed manual often did not arrive at the  
installation site or into the user's hands, but instead was sent  
elsewhere, perhaps to the Corporate Library. Or six months late. Or not at  
all.

Today when I need information on some product I look online, usually not  
at the manufacturer's website but instead at blogs, videos and diatribes.  
The former will contain a PDF full of "bugspray" caution notices in twelve  
languages. The latter have the actual meat, such as "Don't even think of  
buying one of these," or "This is a good, basic chainsaw. Follow the usual  
safety precautions. Really. Please, really!"

Better than any chainsaw manual is a brief viewing of videos googled at  
"chainsaw blunders."

Traditional tech writing is now fully obsolete, mÃme en Ãcrivant en  
franÃais ou en espagnol. äèçäæåï

On Mon, 22 Oct 2018 07:39:12 -0400, Sion Lane <sion -dot- lane -at- unit4 -dot- com> wrote: