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--- jgarison -at- ide -dot- com wrote:
>
> * The relative blankness of this page in no way diminishes its
> usefulness in the report.
>
> * Blank page prevention words.
>
> * With these words, this page is no longer blank but is complete.
>
> * This sentence lets you know this page was not a mistake.
>
> * This almost blank page was intentional.
>
> * This page intentionally left unblank.
>
> * Despite these words, this page is blank.
>
> * Without this mostly blank page, the following text would be on the
> wrong side of the paper.
>
> So ... for those of you still doing print manuals - what DO you do in this
> case?
FIrst, let me say THANKS for one of the better laughs I've had in awhile. Those
are priceless! <g> (The people who posted in the Aphorisms thread will no doubt
be adding these, too.)
To answer your question (and the above have made me rethink what I've always
done; those are so much more creative), I've always left blank pages blank. I
thought, and I still think, that it's stupid to put "This page intentionally
left blank." As one of the sayings above makes clear, the very writing of the
sentence is a paradox. If it isn't obvious that no text is missing, then the
text that exists in the document is HIGHLY flawed.
I expect some people will say that there are legal reasons for placing text
stating that this is an okay blank page, or whatever, but just because (or
maybe especially because) it is a legal reason doesn't make it stupid. I'll go
with Forrest Gump on this one: "Stupid is as stupid does." (Of course, if
they're signing my paycheck, I've been known to do stupid things, too, but my
personal standards don't stoop so low that they can pay me enough not to SAY
it's stupid.
(Well, I didn't start out to write a rant, but I must say it feels good to get
that off my chest. Yes, thank you, Andrew. I'll go back to work now. Good idea, that.)
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