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Subject:Reply to various thoughts of the day for June 1 From:Judith Grobe Sachs <judygs -at- UIC -dot- EDU> Date:Thu, 2 Jun 1994 09:15:26 CDT
First, about Brad Nehlenbacher's (brad_m -at- UNITY -dot- NCSU -dot- EDU) brief
instructions on doing anonymous FTP. Well, not really about what
he wrote, but how he wrote it did bring up something that very much
annoys me (or should I say "profoundly disturbs" me? :-). I'd like
you opinion(s) on it.
In his instructions he says to "type" commands. It is my
contention that simply typing a command will not get you anywhere
-- you have to type it *and* press Enter. So, in all the
documentation I write, I always "enter" commands (or type blah then
press Enter), and I try to make sure it's done that way in all the
documentation we produce. (I'm the whole of the one whole and two
half people in documentation at the academic Computer Center at the
University of Illinois at Chicago. We do a little bit of
everything, but mainly short "how to get started and where to go
for more information" type of documents.) Some people around here
think this I go overboard a bit on this, but I know if we're not
careful, someone out there will simply type the command and wait
and wait and wait... What do you all think?
(BTW, about FTPing the conference reports. Do keep in mind that
not everyone who sees this list has access to FTP or to LISTSERV.)
I was tempted also to comment on the "degree or not to degree"
conversation, but I suppose that has been beaten to death. But in
behalf of those of use who do have degrees, but not in technical
writing or even in English (in my case in theoretical physical
chemistry), yes, we are missing some technical background that we
wish we had. That's why we participate in this list.
JGS
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Judith Grobe Sachs Telephone - (312)996-3758
Computer Center, University of Illinois at Chicago FAX - (312)996-6834
Bitnet: U11371 -at- UICVM Internet: judygs -at- uic -dot- edu
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