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.
Subject:Re: Against "we" From:Dan 'Fergus' Roberts <droberts -at- PANIX -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 10 Aug 1995 21:43:12 -0400
Mark Levinson (mark -at- sd -dot- co -dot- il) wrote:
: I've noticed that the engineers around here love to write "It is recommended
: that" in place of the shorter, but more attributable, "We recommend."
: ** I like to avoid "we". It's too ambiguous.
I company that I previously worked for wanted us to remove all
recommendations. SUpposedly, the idea was that if a user followed a
recommendation and the <thing> blew up on him, then the company was
responsible for the booboo <sounds like fuzzy legal thinking to me,
but.....>.
Anyway, you can always write around the "it is recommended".
WHY was recommendation X recommended? For what purpose?
Then state that in the sentence.
"Setting FILES=150 usually allows program X to open all the resource and
processing files required to perfrom function Z".
--
-----
Dan 'Fergus' Roberts
droberts -at- panix -dot- com
-----
