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.
All these discussions about what may be said on this List and how, combined
with my personal feeling as a non-English native member who has to struggle
with 50 (long) postings every day, lead me to propose what follows :
1 - Thou shalt be brief : proofread thy prose to avoid verbosity, shorten or
summarize quotations when replying.
2 - Thou shalt honor thy fellow listmembers : express thyself with elegance
and dignity, let thy reply "rest" for some hours before sending it, never
insult anyone, be willing to help.
3 - Thou shalt check, and quote, thy sources when giving a precise answer.
4 - Should thy posting bear no apparent relation with TW, thou shalt explain
to what extent it is relevant to the List.
5 - Thou shalt refrain from adding thy prose to a discussion that trails
into infinity, unless thou canst offer a significant input.
6 - If thou only wishest to reply "Yea" or "Nay" to a member's suggestion,
do it via private E-mail, and rely on the initial sender to post a result of
the poll.
...
...
n - Since/Because it is an offence to Me, thou shalt never end a sentence
with a preposition <g>
(PS : I welcome corrections of my "pseudo King James English" !)
-------------------------------------------
Frederic Wronecki (France Telecom, Paris, France)
mailto : frederic -dot- wronecki -at- francetelecom -dot- fr
-------------------------------------------