Re: Use of "your"

[Chris Hamilton <chamilton -at- GR -dot- COM>]

Kris Olberg wrote:

> My questions about this are:
>
> (1) why did we adopt this convention? (like I said, it's been too many
>
> years for me)

My boss's boss is very uncomfortable with second person being used in
technical documentation.  He says it stems from his work in scientific
writing. I wasn't allowed to use "you", so I had to use "the developer".
Try to refer back to "the developer" with a pronoun and not be sexist
("he" or "she") or awkward ("he or she" or worse).

> (2) is this convention still widely practiced? was it ever widely
> practiced?

I haven't done an exhaustive study of all the software in the world, but
of the software in our library, second person is pretty standard. I used
that fact to get the okay to use second person. My boss's boss still
doesn't prefer it, but he understands why we do it.

> (3) why or why not?

I don't think it's used much anymore because someone figured out that
technical documentation doesn't have to be dry and impersonal. I don't
try to be cute with what I write, but I _do_ try to speak to the reader
and use a more conversational than clinical style. Basically, I try to
make the style transparent, so the reader can concentrate on the topic
at hand.

Chris
--
Chris Hamilton, Technical Writer
Greenbrier & Russel
847.330.4146
chamilton -at- gr -dot- com

"Please do not try to confuse the issues with facts!"
                          -- George Banks, "Mary Poppins"

 TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html