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:ADMIN: Irony, Rudeness, and Commentary From:TECHWR-L Administrator <admin -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 14 Jan 1999 05:44:19 -0700
Presumably I wasn't the only one stunned by the irony of:
* Publicly flaming, berating, and generally abusing someone
for commenting, in essence, that he bases hiring
decisions in part on getting to know people's
personalities over time. Whew! Talk about a
quick and easy way to identify people not to
work for, with, or manage.
* A collection of 4000 technical writers unable to come up
with a more effective way of communicating
their assessments of FrontPage 98's output than
"crappy". Then, of course, the day-long bickering
about what constitutes "crappy". For a minute there,
I was afraid we'd have a substantive discussion of
what you can _accomplish_ with relatively pure
HTML code or a reasoned discussion of the merits
of quick development and ways to use FP and
other tools in sync, but fortunately the analysis
of crappy won out.
* People who've been on the list for under 24 hours posting
their impressions of the people and the attitudes
they've found. Certainly posting comments like "I've
not been impressed" will serve to encourage
thoughtful, well-reasoned responses to their future
questions.
What's really a shame is that a day of rudeness, nastiness, and
crappiness pretty well obscured some valuable information
about Front Page, HTML, and interviewing.
If I could make an observation...speaking only for myself ...
I'll take positively excessive amounts of time to provide a thorough
answer to a well-thought-out question, or to check with
resources available to me about the facts behind a matter.
However, I don't do that at all for people who are excessively
rude, abusive, or tacky, and if I put lots of time or thought
into answering a personal, off-line question, I expect at least
acknowledgement that the answer arrived. I don't make the
same mistake twice of pouring time and effort into researching
for people who don't bother responding.
In other words, there are some people, both on this list
and off, whose non-administrative questions are immediately
deleted from my mailer. It doesn't matter if they're asking
about doing exactly what I'm currently doing, with the tools
I'm currently using, and confronting a show-stopper of a problem
that I've recently overcome. I won't waste my time with it.
I doubt I'm the only one who thinks that way.
Before you post a curt, rude, or abusive message, make sure
that you really want to poison this well for your future use.
Please review the posting rules.
Thanks!
Eric
POSTING RULES FOR TECHWR-L
Revised 31 July 1998
I strongly encourage everyone to read and understand these
rules before posting to TECHWR-L. Any list member may
be removed from the list, at the listowner's discretion,
for flagrant or repeated infractions. Additionally, if
you are abusive to the listowner or other list members,
you may be removed from the list.
WHAT TO POST
* If it is about technical communication and of general
interest, post it.
* If it is about technical communication and original and
humorous, post it.
* If it is a job offer for technical communicators, post it.
WHAT NOT TO POST
* If it doesn't clearly and directly relate to technical
communication, don't post it.
* If it relates to _language use_ but not technical
communication, it probably isn't appropriate.
Don't post it.
* If it relates to _computer use_ but not technical
communication, it probably isn't appropriate.
Don't post it.
* If it continues an irrelevant thread in any way
(rebuttal, rebuke, rerun, revision, remark), don't
post it.
* If it is a personal message to a single subscriber,
don't post it. Even if mail to that person bounces.
* If you aren't sure, don't post it.
* If it is a test message, do not post it. Ever. Contact
the listowner if you have problems posting or with your
subscription.
* If it is something cute, interesting, or funny that
you found on the Internet (e.g. Dr. Seuss on Tech
Writing, origin of spam), don't post it. I assure
you that most readers have seen it already.
OTHER
* Check your facts on anything you post. Do not under
any circumstances post virus warnings or anything else
designed to be "forwarded to everyone you know" to this
list.
* Do not directly attack anyone for anything on the list.
Take issue with ideas, not personalities, and do
NOT point out grammatical, spelling, or usage errors.
This forum is not the place to exercise editorial
frustration.
* Edit all unnecessary quoted messages and TECHWR-L footers
out of your postings, and make sure that you send only
plain text messages and no attachments to the list.
* Please do post job ads -- they are welcome. Please
put the location and general job description in the
Subject line. E.g. something like
JOB: Sr. Tech Writer, SF, California, USA.
* Do not post job ad critiques. If you don't like the
job, don't apply. If you have an issue with the
terminology or phrasing, take it up off-line
with the company.
* Please do not post other ads in any form, for they are
not welcome. The one exception is for ads that directly
address a topic under discussion on the list. For example, if
a reader posts a question about snazzling software and
the company you work for makes Snazzler for Doors, posting
information about the product would be fine.
* Please make sure your E-mail address is included in
the body of the message you post to the list.
* If responses are sent to you--not to the whole list--please
summarize and post the entire summary back to the list.
A summary should include attributions so others can pick
up conversations offline if necessary with original posters.
When you send a summary back to the list, use the word
"SUMMARY" as the first word of the "Subject" line."
* Direct all commentary about this message to my
address, not the list.
*********************************************************************
Eric J. Ray TECHWR-L Listowner
ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com http://www.raycomm.com/
Syndicated columnist: Rays on Computing
Technology Department Editor, _Technical Communication_
Co-author of _Unix Visual Quickstart Guide_, _Mastering HTML 4_,
_Dummies 101: HTML 4_, _HTML 4 for Dummies Quick Reference_, others.
