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Subject:RE: Anyone Hide Easter Eggs in Docs? From:bryan -dot- westbrook -at- amd -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 23 Jan 2002 09:23:48 -0600
I think I've mentioned this here before. I like to use themes for the fake user names in my screenshots. I did the secret identities of the Justice League once (Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince, etc.), the members of Pink Floyd, and the Stooges.
When documenting a peer recognition system, I needed an example of an inappropriate comment for one of the rewards and used "All Your Bases Are Belong To Us." So far, nobody's ever said anything, but a lot of my readers are EAL and may not get the cultural references anyway.
I did get chewed out for an accidental Easter egg at a previous job. We were writing an IETM (Interactive Electronic Technical Manual) and needed a procedure for any time the calibration of the built-in multimeter failed. I was told by the boss to "just put anything there" as a placeholder because we needed a working link before the hardware was actually developed so there was no way to know what the real procedure would be.
All of the test procedures in this IETM had a button labeled "Reason for Test." This pseudo-procedure fell through the cracks all the way to validation (the process where the military sends actual soldiers in to test the documentation). The fact that the test was not fully (or really at all) developed was not nearly as much an issue as the fact that the stated reason for the test was "Because I said so." I do think I managed to save a significant amount of my credibility that day by taking full responsibility for the mistake and explaining that it was not intentional.
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