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: Sorry state of the art listowner jerks From:"Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 17 Dec 1998 15:56:01 -0700
As a sorry but unrepentant state of the art listowner jerk,
I don't think for a moment that basic, elementary, or
novice questions are inappropriate for the list. By
the same token, I'd also lobby for spending more
time and energy on meatier issues....but that's
just me, and it's a personal opinion, not a "as the
listowner" one.
The messages that get this SOTAL Jerk
really steamed are those that show a disregard
for the time of other list members, that
rehash (uncreatively) that which has already
been done to the death (the C word, among
many others), and those that seem to prefer
posting messages to this list to using more
appropriate information resources.
For example
Text:
I'm on a deadline--does anyone know how to
punctuate the following...
Sub-text:
I don't have time to look it up, but have time
to ask 4000 other people to look it up for me.
Text:
I just wondered if anyone has considered
C------------ as a solution to the problems
of tech writers everywhere.
Sub-text:
I didn't bother to search the archives,
although if I had I couldn't have posted this
message because I'd have 6 full days of reading
on this subject in front of me.
Text:
I don't know why I'm posting this to the
list, but my survey response is...
Sub-text:
I figure that if everyone else is doing it,
it's clearly the right thing to do, even if
the posting rules and common sense say
that there's no reason to post my survey
response to all 4000 subscribers, particularly
if a summary has been promised.
Text:
Does anyone know why I'm not getting
email from ....
Sub-text:
Rather than asking my system administrators,
local network power users, the person who
might have sent the mail, or the person who
runs the list or server that might have sent
the mail, I'll just shoot the question out to
4000 people, one of whom might take the
time to help me out, even though my problem
is completely unrelated to the topic at
hand.
Novice questions? Other questions? Something to
say? Bring them on, but please respect
the time of the people reading your messages.
Eric
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Eric J. Ray RayComm, Inc. http://www.raycomm.com/ ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
*Award-winning author of several popular computer books
*Syndicated columnist: Rays on Computing
*Technology Department Editor, _Technical Communication_
