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Subject:Re: How one fellow sees us From:Sally Marquigny <SALLYM -at- MSMAILHQ -dot- NETIMAGE -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 10 Oct 1994 09:50:00 PDT
Would someone please clarify whether the posting to misc.writing was written
by Richard or by wnash?
Sally Marquigny Network Imaging Systems
sallym -at- msmailhq -dot- netimage -dot- com Herndon, VA
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From: TECHWR-L
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
Subject: How one fellow sees us
Date: Monday, October 10, 1994 1:52AM
I took this from the misc.writing newsgroup. Apologies to those who already
saw it there and those who couldn't care less...
>From: wnash -at- sunquest -dot- com
Subject: Re: tech writing and hlp tools
Date: Fri, 07 Oct 94 15:51:50 PDT
For those interested in tech writing, there is a newsgroup on the net that,
ostensibly, is supposed to be about technical writing. (The sexy term these
days, however, is technical communication.) The address is
bit.listserv.techwr-L
Subscribers like to refer to themselves as techwhirlers. In fact, several
threads on that very topic took months to subside.
In general, the newsgroup participants tend to be tech writers working for
corporations with unix or mainframe platforms that allow them access to the
net on company time. Evidence of this is the results of one of their recent
newsgroup surveys that showed their favorite DTP software to be FrameMaker;
software uniquely suited to large corporate unix environments where there
needs
to be fascist-like control over company-wide writing. Other recent topic
threads were: favorite pet punctuation peeves; should online be hyphenated;
the
use of s/he versus he or them; why tech writers aren't regarded as
professionals; should the profession somehow be certified by the Society for
Technical Communication so everyone will regard tech writers as
professionals;
if I get a tech writing degree will people respect me; cute business names .
well, I think you get the idea.
Pointedly, the newsgroup attracts a lot of whining and useless drivel.
Rarely,
do you find anyone with a real tech writing problem. Granted, misc.writing
is
not above similar sins; however, the whining and driveling in this newsgroup
is
significantly more astute. Trust me.
About online help development tools
A good newsgroup worth the lurk is
winhlp-L%Humber -dot- bitnet -at- PSUVM -dot- PSU -dot- EDU
You can also get there by looking up
bitnet.winhlp-L
The support and information is remarkable. Nice folks on that list.
Well, enough whine and drivel for now.
Good luck.
Richard Mateosian Technical Writer in Berkeley CA srm -at- c2 -dot- org
