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Ned Bedinger wrote:
<quote>
I classify it as a variant of the rhetorical device known as "mirrors" which comprises barbershop mirrors, funhouse mirrors, smoke and ....</quote>
Your comments could be as appropriately classified as obfuscatory prose. Pomposity is an inappropriate (although altogether too common) response for technical writers implying they are unreplaceable. They are not. That is the bottom line. Misdirection, obfuscation, and tatty little asides do nothing to change the basic scenario.
>From a manager's point of view, the idea that a technical writer "adds value"--except in the most simplistic sense--is more wishful thinking than reality in most fields that require documentation. That is a major problem for technical writers who want to stay employed; the skill sets needed to get the job may be considerably less than the skill sets required to keep the jobs. The notion that a few months of experience repeated a dozen or more times is somehow invaluable is misguided, if not plain silly.
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