active vs. passive voice

[Nicola Harlow]

I don't like 'appears' in documentation either.  
I'm 5'10" and not a hairy biker, however I can muster up quite a lot of
distain when I need to.

Appears suggests something has been hidden and now revealed. Yep, it
probably is a personal preference, but as long as I'm consistent, I
shouldn't think a single user has ever cared... :)

Nicola

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+n.harlow=seamsltd.com at lists.techwr-l.com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+n.harlow=seamsltd.com at lists.techwr-l.com] On
Behalf Of Nancy Allison
Sent: 27 March 2008 15:15
To: techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: Re: active vs. passive voice

Paul says:

>We had some anti-appears people in our group, but we overcame them.
>
>Their argument against "appears": it made the software sound magical.  

Yes, yes, yes! And in explaining this, their voices drip with disdain,
they roll their eyes, and pitch their voices really high. When it's a
6'4" 350 lb biker guy doing the dripping, rolling, and pitching, it's
downright scary!

(And it's an association that is completely personal to them, not shared
by the great majority of people. I think. Though I do not have hard data
to support this claim. Maybe a foundation will give me a grant.)

--Nancy
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