Any Tech Writers here???

[Bill McNiel]

manufacturers?

Sorry, couldn't resist a little bit of irony!!!

.

Irony or humour?

[Michael Dye]

Just when I thought we could have an intellectually stimulating conversation, somebody says "YouTube rules, Man". I believe the only thing that could have been worse would be "Twatter rocks, dude". Fortunately for me, my father was driven by the need to speak and write clearly and intelligently. That was driven into our skulls daily. Consequently, when I joined The Boeing Company as a test pilot, my writing abilities were quickly discovered and I found myself, on occasion, being asked to help in the Tech Pubs department. Today, I am proud to say, much of my writing is included in 737,747, and V-22 Osprey emergency procedures manuals.

I enjoy reading and writing very much. It gives me great pleasure to see my teen-aged kids consuming books with the same passion that I have always had. More importantly, I enjoy coming on to the different forums and joining in on some of the more spirited, intelligent discussions. Oh, one more thing..........I've been very lucky in life. I spent my life flying, helicopters to start with, followed by airplanes. Started young, got my aeronautical engineering degree by the time I hit 30, and got out of the business at 55. In a business that is unforgiving of mistakes, I wake up every day, grateful that I survived.

Now, this forum takes up quite a bit of my free time. It is a source of incredible depths of information. Thanks to all of you for giving an old man an additional reason to get out to the shop every day.

[Chris Padilla]

And what is wrong with You Tube, Michael? I happened to have learned A TON with that video outlet. Between here and there, why not soak up information any way you can get it? You ever watch The Wood Whisperer or repeats of Norm on The New Yankee Workshop? Or heck, watch Izzy Swan churn out some near genius contraptions. Excellent stuff. Embrace technology...don't push it away. After all, you are on a forum so that's a good start....

[Jim Koepke]

In college one of my classes was Technical Writing. It is a difficult thing to stay clear and on point in writing. I give it my best, but have only written one manual for pay.

I agree with Chris on Youtube and so many other sources of information available to us through technology as valuable sources of knowledge. The problem is it is as easy for an idiot to publish as it is for someone who knows of what they speak.

The other problem is a lot of things live forever, or so it seems, on the internet. Some of my older 'how to' posts could use revisions. Alas, I have no editing power over them. It would also be a chore to correct all of them.

jtk

[Ryan Mooney]

The first rule of editing is that it's not how much you can add, but how much you can remove.

This is a rule I've often neglected to the detriment of my readers.

[Jim Koepke]

The first rule of editing is that it's not how much you can add, but how much you can remove.

This is a rule I've often neglected to the detriment of my readers.

The origin of this escapes me at the moment, "Words should be weighed, not counted."

Google sources it to being an old proverb from various sources.

jtk

[Ryan Mooney]

The origin of this escapes me at the moment, "Words should be weighed, not counted."

Google sources it to being an old proverb from various sources.

jtk

I believe the origin of the quote (heavily paraphrased in my case) is generally credited to:
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antoin...t_Exup%C3%A9ry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoin...t-Exup%C3%A9ry

• It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove.
• As translated by Lewis Galantière: ... perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away ...

I'm sure the concept likely pre-dates him but no idea.

edit: Unsure on the words quote - that is likely much much older.

[Chris Padilla]

Einstein is purported to have said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible...but not simpler."

[Prashun Patel]

Irony because your post mentioned proofing the manuals, when the post had a type-o. 100% in jest, I'm sure you know!

[Prashun Patel]

Nobody said "You Tube rules, Man." I only meant that there are multiple ways to communicate efficiently now.

If the purpose is to preserve the wonderful art of writing, then I fully support that. If the purpose is to concisely and effortlessly teach and communicate, we'd do well to consider all options available rather than turn noses up at it and consider some a medium for the sadly naive.

[Chris Padilla]

I said it, Prashun.

[Roger Feeley]

I work at the bleeding edge of technology. I write protocol decoders for a company that makes packet sniffers. At one time or another, I have dismantled communication protocols for Bluetooth, USB, wifi/Ethernet, NFC, sad cards, and just about every industrial protocol. I don't see myself as an expert in any of these, it I am an expert in reading specifications I don't understand..yet.

my pet peeve is specs and explanations that pre suppose the you already understand the subject. Many experts are unable or unwilling to avoid the jargon and acronyms they use with each other every day.

in my writings and presentations, I make a conscious effort to speak in plain English. When I must use jargon, I always stop and explain the term and why I must use it. Our customers seem to appreciate it.

another thing I'm careful about are examples. Many examples include things you have to learn and remember before you can get to the point being made. I frequently use cartoon characters and Shakespeare in highly technical discussions.

oh yeah, if you need a protocol analyzer, call Frontline Test Equipment. If you have a proprietary protocol, I'm your guy.

[Bill McNiel]

Irony because your post mentioned proofing the manuals, when the post had a type-o. 100% in jest, I'm sure you know!

I'm afraid my warped sense of humour, or do folks prefer the Americanized "humor", has failed miserably. I probably should have made it more obvious that I was providing an example of how language translation programs can, and do, fail, although I did provide yet a second attempt at clarification. The "mistake" was not a "type-o", it was intentional but apparently too veiled to be effective. My equally warped wife didn't think anyone would get the original post as it was too subtle but I just had to try . Kudos to Prashun.