TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: been asked for advice by "non-writers"? From:Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net> To:Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>, Milan DavidoviÄ <milan -dot- lists -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Tue, 6 Nov 2012 07:53:06 -0800 (PST)
I still like to point out that engineers can be very detail-oriented when they
critique YOUR work, but their mistakes are either minor or non of your damn
business.
These are people who prepare AutoCAD plots that include detailed data on the
most intricate of devices, yet they can't spell words that they themselves use
frequently.
For instance, at a company I had been with for many years, at least one of the
design engineers kept spelling the word "gauge" as "guage". When I told him that
a "guage" is where Elmer Fudd puts his car, I got this blank look. (And yes, I
know "gage" is also acceptable, but that's besides the point.)
How is one supposed to have total faith in the data when even semi-common words
on the engineering drawings are misspelled?
-- Kenpo in Atlanta
________________________________
From: Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: Milan DavidoviÄ <milan -dot- lists -at- gmail -dot- com>
Cc: techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Tue, November 6, 2012 10:27:41 AM
Subject: Re: been asked for advice by "non-writers"?
Too many questions to list, from "Could you look over this spec to see if
I'm missing anything" to "did I spell this correctly".
On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 10:03 AM, Milan DavidoviÄ <milan -dot- lists -at- gmail -dot- com>wrote:
> Have you been asked for writing advice by an engineer, a developer, or
> some other SME? If so, what sort of advice were they looking for?
>
> The advice you gave them is optional; I'm interested in the questions.
>
> --
> Milan DavidoviÄ
>http://twitter.com/altmilan
>http://altmilan.blogspot.com
>http://ca.linkedin.com/in/milandavidovic
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Writer Tip: Create 10 different outputs with Doc-To-Help -- including
> Mobile and EPUB.
>
> Read all about them: http://bit.ly/doc-to-help-10-outputs
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
> info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online
> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>
--
Bill Swallow
Content Solutions Manager
GlobalScript, a division of LinguaLinx http://globalscript.com http://lingualinx.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Writer Tip: Create 10 different outputs with Doc-To-Help -- including Mobile and
EPUB.
Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online
magazine at http://techwhirl.com
Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email
archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Writer Tip: Create 10 different outputs with Doc-To-Help -- including Mobile and EPUB.