Re: Are tech writers inherently snobby?

Subject: Re: Are tech writers inherently snobby?
From: voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:24:32 -0400

That's a rather broad brush. Not everyone is Larry Niven, you know. Some are
my mother, who was self-deprecating to a fault (and published 34 novels and
a dozen plays and musicals).

-Wendy

On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 9:08 PM, Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:

> I think everyone who is a writer of any kind has at least a touch of
> arrogance. It's simply one of the natural byproducts of a writing bug
> infestation. After all, you have to be kind of full of yourself to think
> that your writing is so much better than anyone else's that it makes sense
> for someone to pay you to write.
>
> Technical writers generally are nowhere near as arrogant as fiction
> writers. Those generally tend to be as territorial about their work and
> their abilities as grizzly bears.
>
> But as for a tone of apparent arrogance in email - I think that is more
> likely to be the result of being in a hurry, than of disdain for your or
> anyone else. I think most technical writers have the habit of writing in
> distinct mental modes, and when they are doing something they're not being
> paid for, they default to a mode where they're less careful about creating
> the right tone. When they're "off duty" they don't put as much effor into
> their writing.
>
> I think you're right to be careful to check with the sender about his/her
> actual mood. It's too easy to make an enemy unnecessarily by taking offense
> too soon.
>
>
>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
> Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
> 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
> http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
> http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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References:
Re: Are tech writers inherently snobby?: From: Gene Kim-Eng
Re: Are tech writers inherently snobby?: From: Keith Hood

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