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Lately I've been tossing around in my mind the question: where does the line
exist between healthy self-confidence and not so subconscious hubris. Both
are attitudes that readers will detect in very quickly.
I share Mr. Murrel's view on how we ought to treat the audience.
On the other hand, I agree with Mr. Plato about there being a whole bunch of
"complex crap" out there waiting to be absorbed, understood, explained, and
made more useful by people like Plato and like other members of this
TECHWR-L. Tech writing is a career that requires a kind of courage that only
techwriter-types understand.
Who else but a techwriter has the guts to wade nonchalantly into the midst
of an engineering department and start asking usability-related questions
like:
How come this error message appears here and why is it worded like that? or
What is this interface supposed to do, what problem does it solve? or
How come the wing maintenance access panel is over here and the aileron trim
tab screw jack is way down there? or
Can I please see the RFP for this contract, I'm just wondering why I have
been told I have three days to "create" the Pilot's Operating Manuals for
the new Avionics package that took your guys what, three and a half years to
build?
Who else but a techwriter, I ask you.
Reworded by me so that the tinge of cynicism is more aptly (imo) directed,
Mr. Plato's sentence would read:
"This is the best time ever to be a tech writer, because there is
still an abundance of new, linearly-engineered, moronic technocrap out there
that our complex human users will need to understand to live, work,
communicate, remain sociable, etc. in this new millennium".
Looking forward,
Rob
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-32021 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-32021 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of Tom Murrell
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2000 5:59 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Swaggin' for Dollars
>From: Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>
>
> This is the best time ever to be a tech writer, because there is
> so much complex crap out there that morons need to understand.
This sentence leapt out at me for one simple reason. I do not quibble here
just to be difficult. Even though I like the "For Dummies" books, I don't
consider myself a moron. Moreover, I am offended whenever a writer "writes
down" to me as if telling me that I am really too stupid to understand what
I'm reading.
My concern with the above sentence is that if any writer thinks that way
about her or his audience, that thinking is bound to come through to the
reader of the work. If I were working with a new writer who expressed this
sentiment, I would try to correct that writer's thinking about the audience.
If I were working with an experienced writer who thought that way, one of us
would have to go. If I were interviewing a prospective writer--no matter
how good his or her qualifications--if he or she thought of the audience as
morons, I would not hire that writer.
And I damn sure would not work for a boss who felt that way. Nor do I think
such an attitude can be passed off as a joke. Part of having a professional
attitude in technical writing is to think of your audience with respect.
"Moron" is not a term of respect.
This is NOT a personal attack on the author of this remark, but I hope it is
a clear attack on the idea that it is somehow acceptable to think of ones
audience as morons because the writer knows something the audience does not.
Is that not why we have a job?
Tom Murrell
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