ADMIN: Time to get back on track

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com>]

Gang,
It's time to get back on track...it's about
technical communication. Thanks.
Eric

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Revised 6 April 2003


THE INAPPROPRIATE POSTING SCENARIO

(Listowner's Note: The "thanks" notations are for the
contributions to the scenario, not pointed digs at
people who committed these infractions.)

     THE SCENARIO
  You are in a large lecture hall full of people in your profession.
  Included in the audience are students, educators, professionals.
  You cannot make out their faces, but they could reasonably
  include your employers or potential employers, your coworkers,
  and the ever-present violently obsessive technical writing
  groupies.

  Most of the audience members sit quietly as one member at a time
  gets up, walks to the podium, and shares information or advice or
  asks questions. Some of it is rich and detailed, some cursory but
  helpful, some trivial but relevant in a roundabout way.  Somewhere
  in this stream of information, someone expresses an opinion or
  gives a piece of advice that you feel obligated to respond to.

  You get out of your seat and walk to the front of the room,
  everyone's eyes upon you. ...

      (Listowner's note: At this point, the paths may diverge.
      Some of the following unfortunate cases have been played
      out over the past few years.)

   A) You approach the podium, clear your throat, and say "Me,
      too."   You are greeted with a combination of quizzical,
      patronizing smirks and incredulous silence.

   B) You relate that really good joke about Microsoft and operating
      systems that you overheard at the restaurant last night. Some
      laugh. Some wonder why you just now heard it. Many wonder why
      you'd use their chance to discuss technical communication to
      tell a old joke.

   C) You take your turn at the microphone to clarify a point. One
      of the previous speakers had mentioned, in the context of
      developing and using context-sensitive, interactive help files,
      that they used MS Word v3.0. Obviously, that's incorrect,
      therefore
      you clarify that they MUST have used a different version because
      that one didn't even exist. Not only that, but the incompetence
      of anyone who could make such a mistake is certainly astounding.
      It only takes you about 10 minutes to impress upon everyone that
      you know far better than the speaker what versions of Word
      exist.
      (You don't make any points about the issue at hand, but your
      audience has already made their assumptions about your knowledge
      in that area.)

   D) "Does anyone know how much the cheapest Internet service
      provider in Kansas costs?"

   E) You replay the entire videotape of the MS Word v3.0 speaker,
      including the introduction, the walk to the podium, and the walk
      back to a seat. The quality isn't all that hot, but it's
      important to make sure everyone knows the context in which you
      speak. 12 minutes later, you point out that there is in fact a
      version of MS Word v3.0 and you had used it once, briefly, but
      didn't like it much and would always choose Frame. Furthermore,
      anyone who uses any version of Word is a certifiable idiot and
      if your company or clients require Word, you should quit and
      find a real company.
      You return to your seat satisfied about your demonstrated TW
      proficiency and wonder about the copy of "How to Win Friends and
      Influence People" that ended up on your chair. (Thanks to Jim
      Barton for the initial suggestion and Arlen Walker for the
      quibble.)

   F) You take your chance at the podium to publicly mock the
      pronunciation and diction of the three speakers before you, not
      to mention their poor spelling on overheads. As you return to
      your seat, someone passes you a note pointing out that one of
      the three is hard of hearing, one is not a native speaker of
      English, and that many people in the world don't see a problem
      with spelling "defense" as "defence". Whoops! Oh, well, you
      think, they'll get over it.

   G) You walk up to the podium and say "I'm glad you all
      finally stopped talking about that subject, because you were
      wasting everyone's time. I'm so relieved we're not discussing it
      any more." (Thanks to Tracy Boyington for this one.)

   H) You reach the microphone and say the exact same thing that all 8
      people before you have said because you didn't bother to listen
      to them. (Thanks to Chris Boehm.)

   I) You piously denounce the majority of subjects that have
      been discussed thus far as irrelevant to the original
      scope of the conference, berate the conference organizers
      for allowing such irrelevancies to be introduced into the
      dialogue, and announce that you will leave the auditorium
      if discussion of such issues continues.

   J) You complain that the seminar does not provide a wide enough
      scope for discussion of your particular interests (which may
      be of only cursory interest to a minority of people attending
      the conference), accuse the conference organizers of promoting
      censorship, and ask if anyone knows of another conference
      organized by nonfacists. (Thanks to Bill Burns for these last
      2.)

   K) You try to leave the auditorium, but forget how, so instead of
      looking for exit signs or asking the usher, you go to the front
      and ask everybody. (Thanks to Lorin C. Ledger for this one.)

   L) "I know that we're supposed to be talking about technical
      communication here, but I figured that I'd go ahead and
      take this opportunity to pass out a questionnaire for you all
      to fill out. There are only about 87 questions. And no,
      they don't really have anything in particular to do with
      technical writing, but they'll certainly be of interest."

   M) "I just got here and didn't have time to check the program
      or agenda, but wanted to tell you all that I need a new
      job, 'cause my current boss is a jerk, and that I'll only
      use Frame on Windows 2000, 'cause all other systems pretty
      much suck. So anyway, I didn't check the program, but wanted
      to talk about how to get those insufferable developers to
      provide worthwhile information...I'm leaving now, but you
      can follow me back to the hotel if you want to talk. ...
      Say, is that a video camera back there? Is it on? ..."

   N) You decide to leave. Instead of getting up quietly and making
      your way unobtrusively to the exit, so as to disturb as few
      people as possible (perhaps passing a private note or a
      business card to the few people with whom you want to keep in
      touch) you walk up to the podium and embark on a lengthy
      speech explaining that you're leaving because people have been
      mean to you, you've been wronged, no one is rushing to your
      defence, and the 5000 people here in the auditorium had
      better change their ways if they want to continue to enjoy
      the honour of your company. Then you walk out, feeling
      smug, hoping that this  Parthian shot caused everyone,
      especially the convention organiser, maximum disruption
      and annoyance. Maybe now they'll appreciate you. (Thanks to
      Jane Carnall for this one, and Arlen Walker for the Parthian
      shot reference.)

   O) Returning home from the conference, where you were one of the keynote
      speakers, you find a contract offer in your mailbox.  You set an
      appointment, quickly revise your resume, collect together some print
      examples of your work and copy examples of help files and Web pages to a
      floppy.
      Arriving at the initial interview, you are met by the interviewer, who
      says, 'Say, didn't you speak at the Techwr-L conference the other day?'.
      You exchange a few pleasantries about the conference, then get down to the
      interview proper: educational qualifications, experience, subject matter
      expertise, special skills, examples of work done, referees.

      But the interviewer made her decision when you first met ...
      (Thanks for Hedley Finger for this one.)

  P) Returning home from the Techwr-L conference, you find an invitation from a
     potential employer to attend an initial interview for a position
     that seems very interesting and likely to extend your
     professional development.  You set an appointment, quickly
     revise your resume, collect together some print examples of your
     work and copy examples of help files and Web pages to a floppy.

     Arriving at the initial interview, you are met by the manager
     you will be working for, who you immediately recognise. You ask,
     'Say, didn't you speak at the Techwr-L conference the other
     day?'.  You exchange a few pleasantries about the conference,
     then get down to the interview proper: educational
     qualifications, experience, subject matter expertise, special
     skills, examples of work done, referees.

     But you had already made your decision about the manager when you
     first met ... (Thanks for Hedley Finger for this one.)

  Q) You introduce an inappropriate topic, and a small group of
     people take you up on it.  Alas, they proceed to commandeer the
     discussion, so that no one can talk about technical writing.  The
     conference organizers are forced to deliver a loud, general
     reprimand, which is embarassing and uncomfortable for all concerned.
     (Thanks to David Downing for this one.)

  R) You introduce an inappropriate topic, and are told to either
     comply with the rules of the conference, or to leave.  You
     go home in a huff, failing to notice that there was actually
     another conference right next door on the very topic you wanted
     to discuss.
     (Thanks to David Downing for this one.)

  S) You hear a popular topic being discussed.  You have never studied
     the topic or worked in the field, but you proceed to the podium
     and give a long, rambling, discourse on the topic.  After the
     next speaker (correctly) contradicts some of what you said, you
     return to the podium and give another long, rambling discourse on
     the subject disagreeing with the speaker who contradicted you.
     This continues ad infinitum, disrupting the conference, until
     the organizers make you both stop.
     (Thanks to Bruce Wolf for this one.)


  As you walk back to your seat, you try to make out the faces around
  you.   (Thanks to Lisa Higgins for the original scenario)







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