Re: Why grammar, punct. etc. matters...and when it doesn't

[John Posada <john -at- TDANDW -dot- COM>]

People! People! sheesh...

This is an Internet Mail List. It is only a mailing list.

It costs nothing to join, there isn't a test, and every gets what they
want out of it. If you have a problem with the usage of a word,
tough...this is real life, and you either get used to it or not. Believe
me...every single one of you, without exception, is sending a document,
help file, or web out as we speak with a misspelling or punctuation
error in it.

Do I need a hundred people reminding me directly or indirectly that
someone, somewhere, when I am going into a job interview, may know about
this list, may perform a search, and may get a hit on one message in
which I used taylor, and that they may care?

Do I believe that by my use of that word used incorrectly, someone is
going to read it and I'm going to cause them or me perm damage?

Do I care that someone is going to think badly of me because of my poor
usage of the word and that I cannot spell because I misspell a word or
two, in the middle of a post, while at the same time I'm juggling five
other projects involving thousands of pages, trying to find every
factual inconsistency? Trust me...there are lots of other reasons for
that opinion.

Am I professional enough to know the difference between a deliverable
for my client that gets examined line by line and an email that I
cranked out as I was thinking of 10 other things?

Personally, when posting, my priorities are in this order:

1     Try to be helpful
2     Try to be accurate
3     Try to be clear.
...
1,400 Don't misspell a word.

jeezz...people, as grandiose as some of you are trying to make this
list, it's only a list. Don't take it or yourself so seriously. Let's
help someone do their job, not mold them to be better human beings. It
won't work, they won't care, and they'll only hate you for it


--
John Posada, Technical Writer
Telcordia Technologies, the company formerly known as Bellcore
mailto:john -at- tdandw -dot- com   mailto:jposada -at- telcordia -dot- com
phone(w) 732-699-3077    phone(h) 732-291-7811
alpha-pager: 800-864-8444 pin 1857522  http://www.tdandw.com
email pager: mailto:1857522 -at- pagemart -dot- net
My opinions are mine, and neither you nor my company can take credit for
them.
  "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish,
and he will sit in a boat and smoke cigars all day."
  "The only perfect document I ever created is still on my hard drive."


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