Re: Questions that are not questions

Subject: Re: Questions that are not questions
From: Steven Jong <JONG -at- CREDTECH -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 14:34:16 -0500

Beverly Parks <bparks -at- HUACHUCA-EMH1 -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL> asks if a section for questions
should have each one written as a question. I'm sure I'm not putting myself
into jeopardy by saying that yes, they should indeed be in the form of
questions. In fact, in the example she cites, I think that her "silly"
solution is perfectly fine:

QUESTION: "When I request an update, my e-mail host returns a
HOST UNKNOWN message. Why?"

Variants can of course be "Why, when I request an update...?" or "When I
request an update, why does...?"

I have had editors and managers disagree with me, but I further assert that
presenting information in this question-and-answer format (now popularized on
the Internet as the FAQ) is a very effective methodology because it engages the
reader. So keep it up!

-- Steve
====================================================================
Steven Jong, Documentation Specialist ("Typo? What tpyo?")
Lightbridge, Inc, 281 Winter St., Waltham, MA 02154 USA
<jong -at- athena -dot- credtech -dot- com>, 617.672.4902 [voice], 617.890.2681 [FAX]


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