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I have only been out of uni for 3 years where I did a Computer Science
degree, as tech writing is not a uni degree in Ausralia unis (or not that
I now of). So I am not very far in age from the students that posted. I
am really sorry that all of them felt that they had a bad experience of
this group, I find it to be really informative and interesting.
I agree that it is not a good idea to insist for an assigment that you
have to post to a group. Why not ask that the students monitor it and
comment on an issue. I have a problem with the person that implied
that it was to be expected from that age group (apologies if I misread
your email). I believe 3 years ago I would have realised that certain
comments would be an inappropriate response/email. From my months
experience on this list I believe people are quite happy to help
beginners, so I would really encourage people to try again. Most of us
really are friendly (especially when we aren't trying to meet a tight
deadline)
Besides which, trust me, you will get yelled at, hauled over the coals
and plenty of setbacks in this profession, so please don't give up.
I don't know if anyone had an address for Scott but perhaps some of the
encouraging emails could be forwarded to him?
Colleen Dancer
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
dancer -dot- colleen -at- a2 -dot- abc -dot- net -dot- au
The opinions listed here are mine and do not represent the Corporation's
view.