Re: Technic writers shall write good,

[Garret Romaine <GRomaine -at- MSMAIL -dot- RADISYS -dot- COM>]

>Marta wrote:

>I certainly wouldn't get my underwear in a knot over it.  It's the stuff we
>put out professionally that needs to be as near-perfect as we can get it.
>And for that, I always run a spell checker (but it won't catch "right" for
>"write"), and I try to get someone else to proof-read my writing, since I
>will read an incorrect sentence (with, say, a dropped article or
>preposition) as I *thought* I'd written it, rather than the way it really
>is.  If we took as much care with these little missives, which are supposed
>to be an informal exchange of information, we'd spend 6 hours a day reading
>and replying to this list, and would never get the work we get paid for
>done!

I've managed to untie my tee-shirt, but I do want to point out that if you
take the example to the extreme, you could find a situation where a student
or other visitor joins the list and is horrified to find out that this group
has just as many (or more) examples of typos, spelling errors, and grammar
breaches as any other. I'd think that just out of professional pride, since
this is our livelihood and our passion, that we'd want to be more of a
"shining beacon" than just as mangled as the rest.

Plus, <rant nearly concluded> proofreading isn't just a case of polishing --
it shows that you have some courtesy and some pride in ownership. You can't
just get to the signature line, conclude that since you wrote it, it's
perfect, and push the send button, built-in spell-checker or no. You may not
have to read, re-read, undergo review cycles and put the e-mail under ISO
control, but I don't think you want to take your contribution too lightly. I
only know some of you through your e-mail postings, and as someone else
mentioned, if I see evidence of an inability to practice this craft, I do
"consider the source," even inadvertently.

Having said all that, I think this is a great list, and I wouldn't give it
up for the world. Being a one-person department, this is my chance to talk
about the fine points of writing without being embarrassed, and I've found
the insights and comments here to be one of the highlights of my daily
grind.

Garret Romaine
gromaine -at- radisys -dot- com