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Subject:Re: Really caring about communication From:"Michael West" <mbwest -at- removebigpond -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 31 Dec 2003 13:28:30 +1100
"Andrew Plato" wrote:
> The sentence "The ramistat gorhunkinator broken. Do never test." may be
> grammatically incorrect, but it still conveys its point. Although it may be
> clumsy, you still understand the meaning.
Maybe YOU do, because you wrote it. But I don't.
> Thus, you can have grammatically incorrect sentences and still communicate.
> However, you cannot communicate with incorrect information.
Nonsense. Just as readers can sometimes figure out what your
garbled grammar was intended to mean, they can also sometimes
figure out what your technically inexact and ambiguous gibberish
is supposed to mean. And sometimes they can't.
In fact, it's just as inaccurate to say "you cannot communicate
with incorrect information" as it is to say "you cannot communicate
with incorrect grammar". Either way, you are communicating *something*
about your competence, your attention to detail, and the level of quality
one should expect from the vendor whose products you represent.
The question should be not "whether" you are communicating, but "what"
you are communicating.
> Thus, if you REALLY care about communication, you'll focus your attention on
> ensuring accuracy of the content.
Yes, the accuracy, of course. AND the usefulness. AND the clarity.
Ignore ANY of those, and you're not a tech writer but a hack -- deny
it all you like.
In order to clarify the real issues here, might I suggest debating the question
in this form: Which is the most important leg of a three-legged stool?
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