RE: Death knell for quality content?

[poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net]

I recall interviewing for one writing position some years ago (early 1980s) and being told point-blank that they had gotten several hundred resumes, I was one of the two finalists, and WOULD have gotten the job offer BUT the hiring manager said (paraphrasing here) that his wife's friend's nephew's uncle's friend is a veterinarian but also does his church newsletter, so they're going to hire him. (Why someone would give up a much more financially lucrative vet practice, I don't know.)

This has happened again over the years; the last time was three years ago while being called in for two interviews for a tech writing position and then at the last minute being told by the VERY unhappy HR manager that the marketing vp "has a friend" he wants to see get the job. The HR manager was furious because I clearly was the best choice for this position, but the HR person couldn't fight the inside power structure; the tech writing position started as a short-term contract job, but then was converted to full-time permanent and I ALMOST got it. Oh, well.

-- Ken in Atlanta
------ Original message from "Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com>: -------------- 


> Michael Ronquillo said: 
> >If you think of other occupations, it's quite sad 
> >that the role of a writer can be practiced by virtually anyone. 
> 
> This concerns me too. When I tell people I write for a living, I often 
> get replies along the lines of, "Oh really, I am something of a 
> wordsmith myself; I wrote an article for the Cub Scouts newsletter." Can 
> you imagine the analogue? To a Ferrari engineer: "Oh really, I am 
> something of a grease monkey too; I just changed the oil in my Ford 
> Pinto." To a physician: "Oh really, I am something of a healing arts 
> practitioner too; I recently gave my dog a suppository for worms." Or 
> even worse, to the widow: "I am so sorry for your loss. My pet gerbil 
> just passed away." 
> 
> Leonard C. Porrello 
> SoleraTec LLC 
> www.soleratec.com 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c 
> om] On Behalf Of Ronquillo, Michael 
> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:59 AM 
> To: hls_ut -at- comcast -dot- net; Lauren; john -at- garisons -dot- com; 
> techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> Subject: RE: Death knell for quality content? 
> 
> I hope that the rise of mediocre writing won't phase the superb writers 
> out. If you think of other occupations, it's quite sad that the role of 
> a writer can be practiced by virtually anyone. I certainly hope our 
> industry won't lose its value and be cheapened. 
> 
> Michael Ronquillo 
> Technical Writer - Equitrac 
> 1-800-472-9532 x2334 
> mronquillo -at- equitrac -dot- com 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: techwr-l-bounces+mronquillo=equitrac -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+mronquillo=equitrac -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On 
> Behalf Of hls_ut -at- comcast -dot- net 
> Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 11:37 PM 
> To: Lauren; john -at- garisons -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> Subject: RE: Death knell for quality content? 
> 
> All this makes me think of annual equipment reviews and 
> comparisons published in Ski Magazine, Skiing, etc. 
> 
> In a subsequent issue, a letter to the editor is invariablly 
> published wherein a reader complains that none of the 
> reviewers is "regular" person. "How can a regular Joe 
> like me relate to reviews written by insiders?" 
> 
> (Regular Joe skis only a handful of weekends a season 
> and seldom ventures off intermediate groomed trials. 
> He buys used equipment for his kids and his wife still 
> uses equipment from 1990.) 
> 
> The magazines' answers are always--correctly--that a "regular" 
> person has not developed the ability to perceive and effectively 
> communicate about the meaningful characteristics of ski 
> equipment. A "regular" person has much less understanding 
> of why various performance categories matter and cannot 
> effectively rate equipment using those catagories to provide a 
> means of comparsion. 
> 
> If you want clearly articulated, objective (hopefully) and useful 
> information, you need to involve people who know what 
> they're doing. You need SMEs and writers and editors with 
> appropriate knowledge, vocabulary, grammar, style etc. Anything 
> else is merely an opinion, which should be viewed with appropriate 
> skepticism. 
> 
> -- 
> ---------------hls_ut -at- comcast -dot- net 
> 
> -------------- Original message ---------------------- 
> From: "Lauren" 
> > > From: john -at- garisons -dot- com 
> > 
> > > Is this really what we are going to start getting? Content is 
> > > king ... but 
> > > if people really believe that crappy content is just as good 
> > > as quality 
> > > content, we are in a heap of trouble. 
> > 
> > I think that what is happening is that people want to see articles 
> written 
> > by people like themselves and not articles that seem like they were 
> written 
> > by an expert or an outsider looking in. The average person has 
> average 
> > writing ability and will make grammatical and other writing errors. 
> So, 
> > content that is less than perfect is more palatable and approachable 
> than 
> > content that is polished. 
> > 
> > It isn't a looming "heap of trouble"; it is a change audience's 
> perception 
> > of documentation. Writers will need to adjust their writing styles to 
> > appeal to the audience that wants informal, familiar documentation. 
> This 
> > does not mean that the quality of the content must change, but that 
> the tone 
> > of the documentation should change. 
> > 
> > Users may accept poor quality now because of its approachability, but 
> when 
> > users become educated in the weaknesses of such documentation, they 
> will 
> > want quality. The compromise between writers and audiences may be 
> that 
> > quality documentation should be approachable to a broad audience, so 
> it 
> > should possess some familiarity for that audience. 
> > 
> > Lauren 
> > 
> > 
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