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Subject:Re: Ethical Question - RESPONSE - From:Marsha Kamish <MKamish -at- STEWART -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 6 Jan 1999 08:20:00 -0600
IMHO, (and I apologize that I can't quote you 'cause I delete messages as
soon as possible) it was the tone you took and the idea that you were
describing "most" writers as below the salt. You make good points but I
think they pertain to a minority of writers not the majority. In fact, if
you take this paragraph:
>A bad writer sits there and waits for other people to solve the
problems. A bad writer anticipates nothing, responds to everything,
and produces little. A bad writer sees the problems with a
development group as someone else's issue. A bad writer sees
himself/herself as "outside" the group. A bad writer thinks there
is
"good information" and "bad information". A bad writer thinks
understanding the technology is irrelevant. A bad writer thinks
knowing a tool is more important than understanding what he/she is
writing about. A bad writer commands little and controls less.>
and replace "writer" with "engineer" do you think you might be a little
uncomfortable - or are you that much more mature than we brittle tech
writers? ;) (Just call me Tina!) You know, there are some lazy, sloppy,
unfriendly engineers out there (where did Y2k come from?) who think their
programming language is all that and if their program is ugly and hard to
use, who cares? I actually got an error message once (okay, it was back in
the early 80s) that called me "stupid." A year ago I worked with an
engineer that was "outside" the group in that he always sat at the head of
the table, demanded Coke (not Pepsi) or he wouldn't attend this dumb
meeting, and automatically said no to everything until you asked him three
or four different ways and found the way that appealed to his ego. I could
go on but why bother. All I want is for us to be able to share information
with each other politely and with a spirit of fun (like the Copyediting list
CHAT: subject). Is that too much to ask?
Marsha G. Kamish, MA
Documentation Specialist
Landata Systems, Inc.
mkamish -at- stewart -dot- com
713-479-2571
The opinions expressed are mine and not necessarily representative of
Landata Systems, Inc.
