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"Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- att -dot- net> wrote in message news:83892 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-
>
> I said nothing of the sort, and you know it. I did, however, say the
> following, and nothing here implies anything like what you've written in
> your attempt to "get this straight". If you ever want to discuss what I
> actually said (and not your fictional account of it), I'm game.
Bonnie, most of your post is just a rant on the "pseudowriter." I am not going
to discuss that because it is mostly your personal take on bad writers.
I will discuss your basic message. Which as far as I can discern was: real
writers follow standards, plans, and conventions and bad writers do not.
Hence, the only "proper" documents are those that communicate a message to the
audience, were written under a plan, and were labored over by editors enforcing
conventions.
I disagree partially. I think real writers have mastery over content AND
communication skills. I think standards, plans, and conventions are secondary.
The cold, real fact is: you cannot write an intelligent document if you do not
understand the topic.
Plans and conventions are 100% meaningless, irrelevant, and wasted if they are
applied to inaccurate information.
Good docs do convey a message. But they also convey a tone of "I have command
over this topic." Standards and conventions are not a replacement nor do they
supercede accurate and authoritative content.
Andrew Plato
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