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Eric said:
>>If the users don't read what you produce and they
>>won't make the correct choices based on your
>>instruction/information set you've failed completely
>>as a technical communicator.
I have to disagree with this. If the user doesn't read what I wrote, it might be for any number of reasons besides my "failing completely" as a tech writer. It might be because they don't prefer to read to learn, or for any number of other reasons.
A recent survey here shows that about a third of our users (sys admins) prefer to "fiddle around" with the product first to figure out how it works. That's also my personal preference, and these folks read the docs as a _last_ choice. Anecdotally, it's not that they don't want to read or that information is hard to find, they just learn more quickly and the learning is retained longer if they "discover" how things work for themselves.
Another 10% of survey respondents always contact support first. They also read the docs as a _last_ choice. They don't want to read - they want a friendly voice on the phone to explain things to them. (You might say that they're a little lazy :-> )
Some users (lots of folks here) prefer to ask someone in the next cube to reading the docs. I get asked Frame questions several times each week... and it's not because the Adobe writers "failed completely as... technical communicator(s)", but because it's more efficient to ask the person in the next cube who knows the answer than thumb through the documentation or help files. Ok, the Frame docs/help stink, but the point is still valid - many people find it more efficient to ask than read.
Which ties this back to people asking "easily researched" questions on Techwr-l.
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