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> Don't want to get flamed
> Don't want my name/address getting out
> Don't want my company to see my post
> Don't want a bunch of people writing to me
> Don't feel qualified
> Scared of a particular List member
> What's the point?
> Too shy
None of those, but these are the top reasons for me:
- Time. The 15 minutes for writing up a cogent response often
isn't available. (Too often, I find myself skimming 500 messages,
deleting 90% of them without reading.) Like others have said, I'm
amazed at the effort others are able to expend with this list. (To
be fair, I think the same of most of the other lists I'm on, too.)
- Domain. If the topic requires only a one minute response, more
than enough folks will likely respond before I do. Also, if 15
seconds searching on Google or the TechWr-L archives will drum up
results, folks don't need my input.
- Domain (2). My area of knowledge is pretty tied to the products my
company produces. When folks ask questions that creep into that area
I often respond off list with my somewhat inherently biased info.
However, I'm not a strong advocate of off-list responses in general.
The group as a whole learns diddly from that method.
- Opinions. A lot of topics come down to people exchanging opinions.
Most sides get covered pretty quickly. I usually doubt my nuance will
have any sway. No need to add another "me too" or "no, you really
are wrong" to the commotion.
- Community. No doubt a good section of this list's members use TechWr-L
as a means to communicate with others of like interests. That's one
of the reasons I listen in. However, when I want to yak about Tech
Writing things, I look to my co-workers for their insights & provocative
questions. The bonus is the discussions typically have direct
applicability to issues we're each trying to solve to continue getting
work done.
Those, & maybe I never learned to share well.
Dan
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel K. Cunningham
Principal Technical Writer
Arborte><t, Inc.
dcunningham -at- arbortext -dot- com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
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