Re: Are tech writers inherently snobby?

[Wade Courtney <wade -dot- courtney -at- gmail -dot- com>]

If I were you, I'd change my email, my phone, and my address...just to be
safe oh and arm yourself with the latest CMOS!!!


W

On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 2:57 PM, Karen Field Carroll <kfcarroll -at- cox -dot- net>wrote:

> Whoops--No, Gene has nothing to do with this! I'm terribly sorry if the
> message gave that impression (and specific apologies to Gene).
>
> Gee, I can't wait to see what kind of hostility a mistake like this draws
> to
> my Inbox. :)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Combs, Richard [mailto:richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 2:53 PM
> To: Karen Field Carroll; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: Are tech writers inherently snobby?
>
> Karen, did you mean to reply to Gene's message (which you quoted below),
> or was that inadvertent? His post doesn't seem to have anything to do
> with your font question, wasn't off-list, and isn't arrogant, so I don't
> see how it can be related to your question. But others looking at it
> casually might assume otherwise.
>
> Richard
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: techwr-l-bounces+richard -dot- combs=polycom -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+richard.combs<techwr-l-bounces%2Brichard.combs>
> =polycom -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
> On
> > Behalf Of Karen Field Carroll
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 3:42 PM
> > To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > Subject: Are tech writers inherently snobby?
> >
> > Hello.
> > For the second time in two days, I've posted to the list and gotten an
> > off-line reply that I thought reeked with arrogance. Each time I wrote
> back
> > and asked for clarification on the tone, because, as I'll be the first
> to
> > tell you, I'm somewhat defensive and tend to read a lot into e-mails,
> and
> > so
> > I wanted to be sure I'm not being my over-protective self. (In today's
> > case,
> > the tone was so obvious I'm pretty darn sure it's not just me.) But
> this is
> > such a consistent pattern--I've worked with many writers who thought
> they
> > hung the moon--that I'm starting to wonder if people in our profession
> > (including me, because I can definitely be a snob) are prone to being
> a
> > holier-than-thou.
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: techwr-l-bounces+kfcarroll=cox -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+kfcarroll <techwr-l-bounces%2Bkfcarroll>=
> cox -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
> Behalf Of
> > Gene Kim-Eng
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 1:47 PM
> > To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > Subject: Re: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?
> >
> > I have my doubts about this one.  I think control enhancements will
> still
> > keep
> > most of the maintenance and repair operations out of the hands of end
> > users,
> > and
> > the "future enhanced" spinning wheel will do more but require no more
> user
> > skill
> > than the old models peoples' grandmothers used to teach them to use.
> If
> > equipment becomes more design-for-service oriented and moves away from
> > disposability, the maintenance and repair manuals will still be there,
> but
> > as
> > long as the "back to basics" trend doesn't go all the way back to
> people
> > having
> > their stuff made locally by village smithies, the people doing the
> related
> > work
> > will be providers of repair services.  There will always be some
> people
> > techy
> > and ambitious enough to want the Sams Photofact book, but most will
> bring
> > their
> > stuff to the repair shop or call the traveling fixers the way they
> used to
> > back
> > in the days of tube radios and TVs and cars with distributor caps and
> > carburetors.
> >
> > The transition of tech writers' jobs *back* to being more interesting
> and
> > more
> > down-to-earth, but requiring more knowledge of what goes on under the
> > hood.has
> > already been in motion for some time now.
> >
> > Gene Kim-Eng
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
> > When your equipment is solid and meant to last, you'll tend to learn a
> bit
> > about
> > how to maintain and fix it, rather than count on throwing it away and
> > replacing
> > it because a new one /i/s/ used to be cheaper than a repair.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
> > Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table
> of
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> > Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table
> of
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> > 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
> > http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
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>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
> Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
> 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
> http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
> http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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