Use of "You"

Subject: Use of "You"
From: Joanne Meehl <Jmeehl -at- datum -dot- com>
To: "'Hal Wrobel'" <hwrobel -at- toptier -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 10:17:49 -0500

Hi all,
Two of the instructors in my Tech Writing program at Northeastern Univ. say
"NEVER use 'you' in technical documentation". They don't mean the writer
should eliminate the implied "you", as in "Click the right mouse button".
They just don't like the sound of "you"--they say it's too casual or
familiar.

But some of you are saying it works. What's a newbie like me to do?! I
don't want to start a thread like "he/she", so please respond privately,
particularly those of you who've had to make this decision and choose
between "you" and phrases like "the user". I want to do what's right without
doing flavor-of-the-month.

Thank you!
Joanne Meehl

"If you do what you've always done, you're gonna get what you've always got,
and sometimes that's nothing". -- Steven Tyler




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