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: What would you do? From:Tracy Boyington <trlyboyi -at- GENESIS -dot- ODVTE -dot- STATE -dot- OK -dot- US> Date:Tue, 30 Jul 1996 08:20:30 +0000
> Sue Gallagher found errors in a marketing publication from a Technical
> Writing Contract firm.
> My opinion:
> Help them by telling them.
> I'm assuming they would appreciate it - after all they are in business to
> make money. They could have already lost a lot of money because other
> potential clients didn't phone to advise them of the errors they found.
They probably would appreciate it. I'm sure they would also
appreciate it if Sue accidentally paid them twice. But that doesn't
mean she should.
As someone pointed out previously, if she points out the mistakes in
their marketing materials, they will probably correct those
mistakes. But what about the rest of their work? Will Sue be expected
to edit that, too?
Some have said that this might simply be the work of a marketing
person who isn't involved in the actual writing, and that the writers
probably do much better work. Maybe so. But it still reflects on
*somebody's* attention to detail. If the owner or chair or whatever
of this group doesn't bother to look at the marketing materials, or
*did* look at them and said "this is good enough for me!", wouldn't
you consider that a bad sign?
Hey, it's a lot like... spelling errors on your resume! Remember
*that* thread? ;-)
If I were in Sue's position, I wouldn't contact them. If they
contacted me, I would tell them the truth... that I don't want to do
business with them because I found too many mistakes in their
marketing materials, which leads me to believe they would produce
poor-quality work. Well, I'd say it nicer than that...
Tracy
==========================================================
Tracy Boyington trlyboyi -at- genesis -dot- odvte -dot- state -dot- ok -dot- us
Oklahoma Department of Vocational & Technical Education
Stillwater, Oklahoma
My opinions belong to me and not ODVTE.
"I think I did pretty well, considering I started out
with nothing but a bunch of blank paper."
-- Steve Martin
==========================================================
TECHWR-L List Information
To send a message about technical communication to 2500+ list readers,
E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send administrative commands
ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
should go to the listowner, Eric Ray, at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-
