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I'm trying hard to think if I've ever had my work specifically "fact
checked" by anyone -other- than the SME or QA (who are often, but not
always, the same people).
When I'm working with a non-SME editor (usu. another writer, as
cross-editing has been very common in most of my working environments), we
do call attention to things we -think- may be in error, but again, it's the
writer's job to verify the item with the SME.
On those delightful occasions when I've been able to outsource the final
edit to a dedicated editor, the assumption is that it's already been
thoroughly gone over for technical accuracy during all the previous reviews.
The editor's job, in those situations, has been to review the doc for style,
grammar, typos, clarity, etc. If they know the subject matter, or if I've
written something that makes no sense to them when they read it, of course
they call attention to it, but fact-checking isn't on their list of tasks.
>Since I started technical writing, fact checking has
>always been taken care of by quality assurance testers....<snip>
>I'm wondering: How many of you actually work with
> editors who check facts as well as writing?
During 15 years of writing, I've never worked with a full-time editor
(writers also have done the editing). Frankly, in my opinion, whoever edits
the documents, whether for technical accuracy (by QA/SME), adherence to the
style guide, basic/comprehesive editing, I, as the author, bear the
responsibility for the accuracy (or lack of it) in the pub.
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