Re: What to look for in a technical editor

["Janice Gelb" <janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com>]

> From: Bonnie Granat:
> 
> I don't think so, Dick. The point is that it's very easy for an editor =
> who doesn't understand the product to correct a sentence and change the =
> meaning. What the editor may think is a logically meaningless string of =
> words may be that -- but it may also not be that at all. It may be =
> meaningless to the editor only.
>

These stories don't convince me that a technical 
editor should be responsible for technical accuracy 
and know the technology forward and backward. They 
convince me that you people have had bad experiences 
with bad editors! 

First of all, I'm having a hard time picturing a 
situation where even without knowing the product I 
wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a 
situation where a grammar or punctuation correction 
might change the technical meaning of a sentence or 
where it was necessary to aid clarity. Especially 
if it involved something like whether a comma should 
be included.

But say I was in that situation. If there's even a chance 
that an edit that moved a comma (or whatever) would change 
the meaning of a sentence, I'd put a query in the margin that 
read "If you're trying to say XXX, please remove the comma. 
If you're trying to say YYY (or "If this is required by 
the code" or whatever), the comma can remain." And it would 
have to be a case where the comma crucially necessary to 
aid the sentence if there was a possibility that changing 
its presence would affect technical accuracy.

-- Janice

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