[FM Discuss] Tech writers and FLOSS (was Re: DocTrain Report)

[Edward Cherlin]

On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 9:55 PM, adam hyde <adam at flossmanuals.net> wrote:
> On Mon, 2008-11-03 at 23:25 -0600, Janet Swisher wrote:
>
>> And, fiction or no, a fairly common reaction I've gotten when talking
>> to tech writers about open source is "I do that all day -- why would I
>> want to do it in my spare time?" The kind of passion that seems to
>> drive open source programmers seems much less common among tech
>> writers.
>>
>
> but is that because they are not interested, or because there hasnt been
> many opportunities to use their technical writing skills outside of
> their vocation to write and :
> * meet peers
> * help others learn writing
> * get satisfaction through helping interesting projects
> * contribute to a non-monetarised ideology
> * raise their profile within another writing peer group
> * be part of a community

Other than what I get paid for, I do what I call defensive
documentation. I write the docs I wished I had at the start. This
assumes that I have some way to find out how the hardware or software
works, such as by trying it.

> ...
>
> adam
>
>
>
>
>> --Janet
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> --
> Adam Hyde
> Founder FLOSS Manuals
> http://www.flossmanuals.net
>
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>



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