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Saul Carliner sez:
My personal opinion is that, as long as we focus our professional discussions
on elementary level subjects, it will be impossible for us to convince
others that we have more substantive skills to offer.
Frankly, I'm not on this list to impress others, I'm on this list to
engage in discussion with other technical writers, primarily in the
hopes that I'll profit from it.
This means I welcome most any discussion - the tool discussions as
well as the deep thoughts, because it tells me not only about the
tool, but about the criteria other writers use to evaluate that tool.
Nearly any discussion teaches me not just about the topic, but about
other writers.
The barbeque thread was amusing and irrelevant, but if I managed to
strain my finger far enough to hit the "n" key and skip ahead to the
next message, I imagine you can manage to do it as well.
Attend an STC meeting sometime - or pick your favorite 'professional'
group. Pay attention and you'll notice that a considerable amount of
chit chat takes place. This is part of the social process that makes
us a group rather than a passive audience.
