Re: Fed Up With Eric's Rules

["Marilyn Baldwin (mlbb -at- capgroup -dot- com)" <Marilyn_Baldwin -at- CAPGROUP -dot- COM>]

I'm responding before reading the many other posts I see flooding in, so
this may be a re-statement of several other people's opinions.

I think the fact that Eric tries to keep us on track/on topic and adhering
to his few rules is precisely what makes this list a valuable resource for
me as a professional tech writer.  Like George Mena, we ALL carry all sorts
of conscious and unconscious baggage with us - events from our childhood,
experiences in school, interpersonal relationships that failed or
succeeded, few or many years of job experience that have been
challenging/frustrating/rewarding/a mixed bag.  We ALL have blind spots,
"hot buttons" that can be pushed, and knee-jerk reactions we control
poorly.  It's Eric's monumental task to help all of us not let these
factors sidetrack us from the primary purpose of the list, which is to
communicate with each other on issues about technical communication.

Fascinating though some of our slides away have been - how much sunlight we
have in our cubes, whether to look for a new job openly or surreptiously
while employed elsewhere, etc. - they are just that: slides away.  This
site ISN'T a general chat room where every topic raised has equal value.
There are hundreds and thousands of such sites, where I'm sure participants
revel in an online version of Jerry Springer's world.  If someone has
enough time in their workday to follow threads about bitchy women at work,
or inflexible militarists, hey, great - go somewhere else and do that.  But
these are so general, and so far OFF TOPIC (tech comm issues), that I'd
prefer they be restricted/stopped (fascist oppression!).

The wonderful freedom of the Internet is that disgruntled posters are free
to go create their own lists and invite everyone interested to participate.
"Mike Nichols" doesn't speak for ME, and I resent that he attempts to
represent a whole diverse community of technical writers without consulting
any of us.  If he and his boss find this site a waste of their time, why in
heaven's name has he gone to the trouble of subscribing under several phony
names instead of creating his own wonderful website where his own rules (or
rather, lack of rules) apply?  Like most people who stay stuck
developmentally in a rebellious teenage headset, he harrangues about rights
and says nothing about responsibilities (there's a comedian who pegs it
nicely - forgive me for forgetting his name - he sums up a typical teenager
in one sentence: "GET OFF MY BACK!!! ... and buy me Nikes.").

Eric, you take unbelievable flak for a volunteer job.  I admire the amazing
good nature you constantly display, the many times you patiently reiterate
the few rules we are supposed to play by, the thick hide you must
necessarily possess.  Blessings on you!  Please ignore the rantings of
those who hate your list and join those of us who love it in gently
inviting those others to go in peace... but GO!

- Marilyn Baldwin
(mlbb -at- capgroup -dot- com)

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=