Messages. . .

[Greg Kushmerek <gkushmer -at- JADE -dot- TUFTS -dot- EDU>]

>   From:         Karen Kay <karenk -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>

>   Andrew Shires said:
>   >   In a professional forum such as this, net or no net, I believe that

>   I disagree w/ this--the net is different from not the net.  I don't have
>   a spell-checker on my mainframe, and I don't always catch my typos.  Also,
>   there are occassions when I am reduced to using a line editor, which means
>   that I cannot go back further than the line I am on to do editing.  Does
>   this mean I am less professional?  I don't think so.  I think those who
>   are worried about being perceptions of this list by browsers have themselves
>   not spent enough time netsurfing to appreciate the sometimes abysmally
>   low levels of composition abilities practiced on most of the net.  The
>   net should *not* be compared to a professional newsletter.

I agree wholeheartedly with this.  If we want to be pedantic, let's
at least be consistent.  How many of you really know the networks
you're using?  How many of you know all of the tools that you have
in front of you?

Some of you obviously and readily admit that your computing knowledge
is not up to standards.  Fine, it doesn't bother me.  Those of you asking
for forgiveness/understanding/patience in this issue have mine.  I'm
not just referring to line editors either -- how many of you know
how to go out and get a list of the currently available newsgroups
and mailing lists that are out there?  It's available.  You do?  Great.  You
don't?  Fine.

Yet then comes the double-standard:  you don't have proper
grammar?  Ha!  Your opinion is worthless!  This kind of attitude is
pathetic hypocrisy (that's probably redundant -- and I can edit
my lines so it's staying).

Publicly shame someone on their writing skills because they are
technical communicators who aren't communicating well and it's OK.
But please show me sympathy because I'm a technical communicator
who really isn't very technical?  Oh, this makes
lots of sense.  How about if I introduce the "Greg" standard?  If
you can't maneuver through five operating systems, program in
two languages to some extent, and know how to find the latest
press release from the White House on the Internet then  you don't
deserve to be a "technical" communicator.

Wouldn't that just p*** you off?  It's rude -- about as rude as
harrassing someone for a few typos and maybe a usage error.

>   And may I share my own pet peeve?  I wish people on this list and the
>   copyediting list would learn how to EDIT mail they are responding to
>   instead of quoting _in toto_ the original message.  To me this is a
>   more egregious error than an occasional typo.


Sorry,

--gk


Greg Kushmerek                          "They [Australians] don't spell 'beer'
Sr. Researcher/Development              with four X's out of ignorance. . .And
Tufts University                        light beer is a creation of the Prince
Medford, MA                             of Darkness."
gkushmer -at- jade -dot- tufts -dot- edu                         -Morse, Thames Valley C.I.D.-