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Subject:FW: Oh yes it is appropriate From:"Glanbrok, Slayer of Bluntskulls" <conehead -at- OVERTHE -dot- NET> Date:Mon, 19 Aug 1996 18:19:13 -0400
Joanna Sheldon wrote about the Macintosh Fanatics Newsgroup:
Eric, you're out of your mind and being way too anal about your list as
always--this discussion IS all about technical communication.
The tools we use help us think (or, in the case of Word, prevent us from
thinking). We should be discussing them. I've gained a lot just from the
short bit that's happened in the last few days. I don't want to have to
wade through weeks of details on individual OSs and applications --
Tony, it's not true, don't believe him.
Anybody who wants to talk about language/writing and associated topics,
mostly translation, should join Lantra -- write me for instructions if
you're interested.
I'd like to cast my vote with Eric on this topic. In my view (sorry, no Netcronym for that expression yet), hardware is what it is. There are no tricks to learn, no files to convert from one format to another, no portability issues. People who have grown used to Macs are undoubtedly more heated in their, ah, loyalty, shall we say, to that brand of box. I, for one, have used Macs a few times (about 10% of my career, as it were), and I agree -- they're better for those of us who do DTP and graphics. But what can you Mac Fanatics tell us Windows or Unix slaves about tech writing that we can use?
Of course, being mostly disinterested in this topic, I find it easy to skip the entire thread. Unless, that is, someone like Joanna Sheldon CHANGES THE SUBJECT LINE, which is poor etiquette if you ask me. See, Joanna, the SUBJECT LINE is the reason we don't need a V-chip on newsgroups. If each contributor retains the subject from the message to which he or she is responding, the other participants can identify the thread WITHOUT OPENING THE MESSAGE! This is a great virtue, IMO, considering that some days there are upwards of 50 messages on Techwrlrs.
Glanbrok
conehead -at- overthe -dot- net
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