TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Supposedly, one of the premiere authoring tools is MadCap Flare. It happens to be our weapon-of-choice, here at goode-olde-employer-inc.
The primary means by which serious users find out how to do things in Flare is via MadCap's user forums.
(Note, I did not say via their own Help, nor via mailing lists.)
As it happens, the search engine provided by MadCap for people wanting to find stuff in their hosted forums has been a superlative example of an absolutely useless, utterly putrid piece of @#&p!
Nobody I know of uses it. Anyone who finds useful info in those forums (and there's a lot of really good user-to-user assistance to be found) does it via external Google search.
What's sad is that the company was built on Help, and they flog webserved help with a search engine.
If the MadCap forum search isn't embarrassing to MadCap, it should be.
But apparently they tolerate embarrassment really well, since the forum search has been a running joke for about as many years as I've been using the (pretty good) Flare product (i.e., since version 1.something).
I don't know of a forums app/server that provides a really good search facility. Do you?
-----Original Message-----
From: William Sherman
Sent: February-18-14 8:58 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: ghost town
The mail lists have starved to death in many areas. The introduction of web-based forums and cheap forum software meant that where you used to have a mail list, you can now have dozens of forums on the same topic. The forums are easy to use, with great search engines typically, and you can view the threads easily.
I remember a book in Barnes & Noble in 1994 listing then known mail servers, mail lists, and news groups along with the new web sites. the book was about an inch and a half thick with small type, and the web sites were less than a third of the pages.
I'd imagine 80% of those mail lists are gone today. (no idea really) Many of the email service providers have eliminated the news groups and servers so access has been lost by many.
Still, some mail lists continue, both through company firewalls (it is email, not a restricted web site that gets red flagged) and loyalty from the members.
----- Original Message -----
From: "rebecca officer" <rebecca -dot- officer -at- alliedtelesis -dot- co -dot- nz>
To: "Dan Goldstein" <DGoldstein -at- cytomedix -dot- com>; <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 3:55 PM
Subject: RE: ghost town
Are mailing lists starving to death in the Facebook-and-LinkedIn era? Me, I hope not. I find a mailing list hugely more usable, mainly because it's so easy to filter and archive posts.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Doc-To-Help: new website, content widgets, and an output that works on any screen.
Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
The information contained in this electronic mail transmission
may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected
from disclosure. If you have received this communication in
error, please notify us immediately by replying to this
message and deleting it from your computer without copying
or disclosing it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Doc-To-Help: new website, content widgets, and an output that works on any screen.
