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Subject:Re: OFFSHORING ARTICLE/Non-Writers As Writers From:kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 10 Nov 2003 12:48:35 -0700
I won't win any friends with this, but I gotta say it:
I've seen enough appallingly bad tech writing done right here on the
mainland (or whatever you call any areas that are not "offshore") that I
don't think touting our writing skill is a very persuasive argument
against offshoring.
Sorry, but "American" tech writing is not inherently superior, or even
necessarily good.
Good writing is done by individuals, not nationalities. And those good
writers are scattered across the globe, and work on varying pay scales.
The best writers are not always the best paid writers, unfortunately.
With the amount of crap being written here, it's no surprise that
companies are looking for somebody else who can write equally crappily
(nice construction, eh?) for less money. Who can blame them? Most users
have grown accustomed to crappy doc, and are not boycotting products based
on poor documentation. So the companies that employ tech writers don't
have much incentive to spend more on their docs.
Okay, that's enough holiday cheer for one post.
Keith Cronin
who wishes he could write in Norwegian
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