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Subject:Re[2]: How one fellow sees us From:Virginia Krenn <asdxvlk -at- OKWAY -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU> Date:Mon, 10 Oct 1994 14:52:35 CDT
Sally,
From the context of the message and from the knowledge that
wnash -at- sunquest -dot- com posted a similar message to our list, I assumed
that Richard was sending us a copy of a message that
wnash -at- sunquest -dot- com had posted. I wasn't able to determine whether or
not Richard agreed with the message.
Would someone please clarify whether the posting to misc.writing was
written by Richard or by wnash?
Sally Marquigny Network Imaging Systems
sallym -at- msmailhq -dot- netimage -dot- com Herndon, VA
----------
From: TECHWR-L
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L Subject: How one fellow sees
us
Date: Monday, October 10, 1994 1:52AM
I took this from the misc.writing newsgroup. Apologies to those who
already saw it there and those who couldn't care less...
>From: wnash -at- sunquest -dot- com
Subject: Re: tech writing and hlp tools Date: Fri, 07 Oct 94 15:51:50
PDT
For those interested in tech writing, there is a newsgroup on the net
that, ostensibly, is supposed to be about technical writing. (The sexy
term these days, however, is technical communication.) The address is
bit.listserv.techwr-L
Subscribers like to refer to themselves as techwhirlers. In fact,
several threads on that very topic took months to subside.
In general, the newsgroup participants tend to be tech writers working
for corporations with unix or mainframe platforms that allow them
access to the net on company time. Evidence of this is the results of
one of their recent newsgroup surveys that showed their favorite DTP
software to be FrameMaker; a
software uniquely suited to large corporate unix environments where
there needs
to be fascist-like control over company-wide writing. Other recent
topic threads were: favorite pet punctuation peeves; should online be
hyphenated; the
use of s/he versus he or them; why tech writers aren't regarded as
professionals; should the profession somehow be certified by the
Society for Technical Communication so everyone will regard tech
writers as professionals;
if I get a tech writing degree will people respect me; cute business
names . .
well, I think you get the idea.
Pointedly, the newsgroup attracts a lot of whining and useless drivel.
Rarely,
do you find anyone with a real tech writing problem. Granted,
misc.writing is
not above similar sins; however, the whining and driveling in this
newsgroup is
significantly more astute. Trust me.
About online help development tools
A good newsgroup worth the lurk is
winhlp-L%Humber -dot- bitnet -at- PSUVM -dot- PSU -dot- EDU
You can also get there by looking up
bitnet.winhlp-L
The support and information is remarkable. Nice folks on that list.
Well, enough whine and drivel for now.
Good luck.
Richard Mateosian Technical Writer in Berkeley CA srm -at- c2 -dot- org
