You're not the only person who can write

[Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

As you may or may not know (or care), I've become a rather passive member of
this list lately. This is mostly because I'm a busy enslaving more drones at my
death camp in Oregon. 

But I do keep tabs on the list and notice funny little trends. 

One that has caught my eye recently is this emerging notion that only technical
writers are "authorized" to write. I've caught this attitude in a few posts
recently. I am not pointing to any specific person here so those of you who
have your offense-detectors turned up to 11 can stand-down from red alert and
go back to pointing out flaws in Howard Dean's ties. 

I find this "only tech writers can write" attitude kind of funny since it
applies to me. Even though I have moved up into the executive penthouse where I
can urinate on the ignorant masses, I strangely did not lose my ability to
write. I can still bark orders at my peons using correct grammar. 

But, if I were to believe what some people *seem* to feel, when I left tech
writing, I instantly became unqualified to write documentation. 

Ummmm, no. 

So what we have here is a sort of "professional arrogance." I understand it.
Really. I'm a security nerd and therefore I think its impossible for anybody to
secure their computers.

In fact, many people are quite good at securing their computer. The PC-tech guy
who works at one of my clients, was suggesting today that they disable
installation of ActiveX and Java components on their end-user machines. That's
a good idea. He didn't need a CISSP or a PhD in Tremendous Brain Melting
Computer Security Sciences to figure that out. He's a sharp guy who can READ. 

What's my point...professional arrogance is lame. Just because you're a skilled
writer doesn't mean other people can write. Don't throw a control rod just
because your boss wants the engineers to write something. Light a candle rather
than curse the darkness (stole that from Raising Arizona).

Now, I know you know this. I know you're nodding your head going, YEAH, YEAH,
YEAH, BUT YOU SUCK ANDREW AND HOW DARE YOU CURSE! Nevertheless, its easy to get
among peers and become a little - profession-centric? 

So this is a little public service announcement to remind you that writing
isn't that amazing of a skill. Lots of people who aren't professional writers
also happen to be decent writers. Don't assume you're all that just because you
know where periods go. Lots of people know where periods go. 

The best communicators aren't obsessed with periods. They care a lot more about
WHAT they are saying or writing not the dots at the end. 

Yes, yes, yes, I know...

BUT ANDREW, IT DEPENDS. 

Of course. However, Depends also encase old people's butts. And you know what
they catch. 

Are you the pants or the depends? 

Now, get the hell back to work.

Andrew Plato



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