FW: Use of periods in phone numbers

["Higgins, Lisa R." <eilrh -at- EXCHANGE -dot- WCC -dot- LUCENT -dot- COM>]

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

This morning, I am greeted with posts on the following subjects:

* The octothorp/hash/crunch/pound sign (semantics is not an exact
science, but dictionaries      are generally good sources for
guidelines)

* Insure vs. ensure (second verse, same as the first)

* Guest chairs in cubicles (do we have to have some kind of ISO standard
for this?)

* The octothorp/hash/crunch/pound sign (semantics is not an exact
science, but dictionaries      are generally good sources for
guidelines)

* Insure vs. ensure (second verse, same as the previous verse)

* The plus sign as ampersand (an ampersand--meaning 'and per se and'--is
a specific character, a shorthand symbol for 'et.')

And, of course...

* The priceless "We're technical communicators.  We have no license to
experiment with trendy conventions."  in response to the burning issue
of using periods rather than hyphens in telephone numbers. (Yes, I'm
certain that the use of periods in a telephone number is going to cause
users to confuse it with an FTP site.)

And I have to say that one of the most valuable things I've learned from
being subscribed to this list is that when someone confronts me with
"Our LAST technical writer said [insert inanity]" or "I thought
technical writers were supposed to proofread all the memos we write,"
they're not just being ignorant or disrespectful.

I reiterate: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Lisa Higgins
eilrh -at- ei -dot- lucent -dot- com