tech wrs

Subject: tech wrs
From: Cyndy Davis <kivrin -at- ZDNETMAIL -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 10:28:45 -0700

Like many techwrlers, I felt an urge to slap the poster of a comment reffering to "dumb" questions and certification. Once that urge passed, I thought about the point of the post. Obviously, some tech writers have more knowledge than others, based on education and experience.

Even though I have an English degree, I find issues that I don't know the rule for, LED/ell-ee-dee is a prime example. I did happen to look in a style manual when I had the same type of question, but I also knew what type of topic to look for.

There are times my boss looks to me for grammar answers since she has a Journalism degree and did not have a strong grammar background. There are times that I look to her for rules that I didn't learn in my classes.

I appreciate the times that people on this list have answered seemingly "dumb" questions that I:
- wanted a second opinion on
- didn't know how to research
- wanted opinions to back up a feeling
- wanted to see if I brought up other issues that I didn't consider
- needed to check if my education was right (maybe I remembered wrong or its a variable rule)

This list serves an important function, and I for one appreciate it's existence. I sort message by subject line, I don't read RoboHelp msgs, for instance. But I appreciate even seeing repeated questions since it reminds me that not everyone is perfect but there are many of us trying our best.

Thanks for all the advice everyone,
Cyndy Davis


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