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RE: Microsoft wants journalists, not tech writers?
Subject:RE: Microsoft wants journalists, not tech writers? From:MList -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 30 Oct 2003 10:22:41 -0500
John Posada [mailto:writer -at- tdandw -dot- com] replied to Mike O.:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike O." <obie1121 -at- yahoo -dot- com>
> >
> > John Posada wrote:
> > > I'm sure we can get agreement to this statement by the
> > > editors who employed journalists such as
> > > **snip list of rogue journalists**
> >
> > But journalism publicly flogged these people. Journalism
> considered them bad
> > apples. But if they were tech writers they would be
> considered "team
> > players."
> Before or after they were caught?
>
> John Posada
> Senior Technical Writer
> writer[at]tdandw.com
Wow. I just don't know how to read that response.
If you were responding to Mike's statement that the journalists
were "flogged", then ... er... it sorta stands to reason that
that COULD happen only after they were caught. Otherwise, you'd
be suggesting that (say) we flog you, in anticipation of your
future "outing" for some crime... for which you have yet to
be caught. Isn't it considered normal that persons be flogged
only after they've actually been caught doing something wrong?
Isn't pre-emptive flogging considered "witch-hunting" and a
bad thing?
If, instead, you were responding to Mike's statement about
the fact-fudging techwriters being considered "team players",
then "getting caught" amounts to having customers register
dissatisfaction with incorrect documentation. Incorrectness
was mandated by somebody, and the "team player" went along
with it.
In that case, the passably intelligent (paranoid) "team player"
would have retained copies of the e-mails/memos in which
s/he was directed by bosses to fudge the technical details,
rather than to describe the product as it existed.
Or did you mean some third thing that I overlooked?
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