TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Tired of giving out technical advice for free From:Emily Berk <emily -at- armadillosoft -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 25 Feb 2002 06:43:40 -0800
At 10:33 PM 2/25/02 +1100, Steve Hudson wrote:
>Finally, I cannot help the irony. Might not the time you spent penning the
>tech-whirler message and reading responses - let alone time spent by
>respondants in replying - have been better spent just helping the poor fella
>and moving on? Let alone expecting us to spend unpaid time... blah blah ad
>nauseum. ...
Not really an irony. Techwr-l is basically a cooperative. I've tried to contribute when I could; have asked questions and raised issues when I had them. I don't think I've taken much more than I've given, but then maybe I have.
These other people asking me these questions -- they have no relationship with me. They've theoretically profited by reading my published pieces. Now they want more from me than I had originally chosen to give (or, at least, than my editors chose to publish).
It's not just that I don't want to give. It's more the fact that I did have an ulterior motive for writing for peanuts -- I WANTED to become more famous, so people WOULD ask me for advice. But I wanted to become famous in a professional sense, and am discouraged because people want my UNPAID advice because -- guess I seemed like a friend and not a technical professional.
Long live the revolution, Steve! I raise my glass of wodka to you and to all others who responded.
--Emily
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Emily Berk ~
On the web at www.armadillosoft.com *** Armadillo Associates, Inc. ~
~ Project management, developer relations and ~
extremely-technical technical documentation that developers find useful.~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now's a great time to buy RoboHelp! You'll get SnagIt screen capture
software and a $200 onsite training voucher FREE when you buy RoboHelp
Office or RoboHelp Enterprise. Hurry, this offer expires February 28, 2002. www.ehelp.com/techwr
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
