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Subject:ADMIN: Tone and Style of Responses From:"Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 24 Mar 1998 06:13:53 -0700
Gang,
Over the past several days, I've received several
messages with roughly the same content:
>The problem is that, if I were a young tech writer with relatively
>little experience in the real world--which, by the way, I happen to
>be--I would think twice about posting my own problems to the list if I
>thought they would get the "Get over it" sort of response. In fact, I
>would think twice about it right now. I don't really see how this sort
>of response would help me any more than, say, a good caning.
And, it's certainly true that a number of very legitimate
questions lately have been received with a rather terse
"get over it".
I'd like to remind all of you--particularly those
with more experience or more time in the school of
hard knocks--that there was once a time that you also
didn't know "obvious" stuff about the profession or tools.
If someone posts a legitimate question, we all owe it to the
poster to provide worthwhile, constructive, valuable feedback.
(Even if the gist of the feedback continues to be "get over
it", more constructive and educational ways to convey the same
message do exist.)
Eric
*********************************************************
* Eric J. Ray, ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com, http://www.raycomm.com/
* TECHWR-L Listowner, co-author _Mastering HTML 4.0_
* _HTML 4 for Dummies Quick Reference_, and others.
* RayComm, Inc., currently accepting contract inquiries.