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Re: FAQs

Subject: Re: FAQs
From: "Sandy Harris" <sandyinchina -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 10:10:49 +0800

Joe Malin <jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com> wrote:

I wonder if tech writers are, in general, involved with FAQs.

They should be. If there's going to be a FAQ, it really helps if it is
well-written, and it is probably a good idea to have it follow the
same conventions and use the same terminology as the main
docs.

I think that FAQs come from two places: support, and "development"
(engineering/product development/...)

Unfortunately, some come from marketing. That might be OK if
they were genuine, answered real questions one might have
about the product. Usually, though, they are answering questions
marketing would like customers to ask. These so-called FAQs are
utterly dreadful and have driven me away from some products.

Also, some come from the notion that a FAQ is just a standard
part of a documentation set. The writer, developers, support or
management might drive that, but in any case it is a widespread
idea.

Here's a FAQ I wrote that I think is a decent example:
http://www.freeswan.org/freeswan_trees/freeswan-2.06/doc/faq.html

--
Sandy Harris
Zhuhai, Guangdong, China
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References:
RE: FAQs: From: Joe Malin

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