RE: arrogance

[Mailing List <mlist -at- ca -dot- safenet-inc -dot- com>]

John Posada sez:

> >sort of feedback is useful, simply because 
> >it gives you another perspective.
> 
> When I get writing suggestions from a non-writer, how I handle them
> usually breaks down into thirds:
> 
> One third I accept and make the changes
> One third, I reject and leave as it is
> One third I don't make that change, but I rewrite the sentence or
> paragraph, seeing the suggestion as an indication that the immediate
> content could have been better. 

That sounds about right. If the first person to take 
a stab at your deathless prose is confused by any 
of it, then maybe it's not as crystal clear as you 
might have thought. The nature of what threw them gives 
you some direction for fixing the obscure bits.

On the other hand, if they struck out "rear" because 
they can't read that word without seeing "rump" or 
"butt" or whatever, then you can just ignore anything 
else they've had to say, because they're too stooopid 
to live anyway.

But, if they're still in the game, and they know the 
subject, you certainly give weight to any factual queries 
that they highlighted. Either they point out a "whoops" 
that you recognize when it's brought to your attention, 
or they find a flaw in the logic and you can see it 
yourself, once they explain the difference (similar 
to them pointing out an error that's due to a change in 
the product since yesterday) you agree and make the 
change, or, you nod politely and then go find another 
source to confirm (after all, you just got into trouble 
by trusting assumptions, so it's time to overreact a smidgen).

/kevin

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