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Subject:Re: HUMOR: I Need Help From:Jeff Hanvey <techwriter -at- jewahe -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 19 Feb 2001 18:50:14 -0800 (PST)
--- Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- progeny -dot- com>
> wrote:
>Jeff Hanvey wrote:
>
>> I don't exactly see it as wasted time. I think it is a valuable necessity. It's just that designing templates takes time away from the researching, writing, and editing. I'd just rather have something that I can customize quickly to the task at hand and move on to the meat of my job.
>
>This comment is really just a softening of the original position.
Maybe. But I don't think so.
>For me, making sure that a template is suited to your audience and
>the conditions under which it will be read, that it is easy to read
>and easy to scan and (if relevant) suitable for single-sourcing is
>every bit part of the meat of the job as making sure that the
>information is accurate and clearly and precisely presented. If the
>document isn't usable, you may as well not have written it.
True, but there's the off chance that it might be useful without changes.
>The point is that, when asking for templates, people are expecting
>to get somebody's professional servicces for free.
This is why I do advocate payment.
If someone posts
>free templates to a web site, or otherwise shows their willingness
>to be generous, fine. But it's very high-handed to ask and expect
>someone to do so.
Expectations are one thing; no one, I think, is "expecting." Hoping, perhaps, but not expecting. At the very least, viewing the templates is a sort of training.
_____________________________________________________________
Jeff Hanvey: http://www.jewahe.net
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