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Subject:RE: What to do? From:"Goldstein, Dan" <DGoldstein -at- DeusTech -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 28 Oct 2003 16:29:19 -0500
Chuck (he said gently), perhaps it was a *little* out of line for you to use
the phrase, "how can you lay claim..."
Your opinion is every bit as valid as mine, but you should know that *many*
of your peers on this list have not been "taught significantly and
comprehensively in engineering disciplines."
I will not cite the 45 million previous posts on this list that support your
opinion or mine. I would merely suggest that we all use a little diplomacy
when writing about each other's professional qualifications.
Some of us even believe that the ability to use a little diplomacy *is* one
of our professional qualifications.
Dan Goldstein
-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Martin
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 4:16 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: What to do?
"k k" <turnleftatnowhere -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote
>
> >
> > If you've not already been taught significantly and
> > comprehensively in
> > engineering disciplines, then how can you lay claim
> > to the "technical" in
> > "technical writer?"
> >
>
> This reads like you are saying people have to be
> trained as engineers before they can be technical
> writers. Wouldn't that be like saying that all medical
> insurance policy writers have to be M.D.s, or that
> anyone who writes for aviation magazines has to be
> licensed pilot?
>
What I'm saying--I've said it before--is that Technical Communication is an
engineering discipline.
Would you trust the information in an article about what to do if you run
out of gas if it was written by someone who didn't have experience behind
a stick?
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