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While we seem to have been far off base talking about water, it is indeed a
techwriter issue. The question is, whether a non-expert (not a doctor) has
the right, the responsibility, or even the gall, to disseminate information
on a technical or specialized topic. This is a longstanding TW issue.
As you know from my previous posts on this issue, I'm firmly on the side of
an intelligent person being able to investigate and research sufficiently to
present and accurately explain expert information to others.
The other aspect is that a non-expert user often asks the questions experts
never considered. They try to make the product do things the experts never
designed it to do. And they make interesting and useful discoveries in the
process. Discoveries that often allow the product to be made better, or the
user to understand it better.
We need both -- experts to handle the technical side, and non-experts with a
gift for helping us make practical and beneficial use of the technology. It
doesn't matter what industry, and it doesn't matter who you get your
information from if it's good information that makes your life better.
If I have a heart attack, I definitely want a cardiologist on the job, not
the guy who wrote the manual for the defibrillator. But that doesn't mean
the writer isn't qualified to explain how the defibrillator works or how it
can be used to best effect. If drinking more water helps you, that's
wonderful. If you don't desire to try it, that's wonderful too. Nowhere in
my book do I say "ignore your doctor", just the opposite. And if I was
trying to promote the book, I'd have given you the URL.
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