OT - Who should be responsible for proofing?

[Art Campbell]

Denise,

I don't totally disagree with your contention, but proofreading is one
thing... and content / structural editing, fact-checking, and quality
assurance, the topics that you touch upon are something else. I'm
intentionally defining "proofreading" in a narrow, traditional way.

The problems that you related are much more basic and mechanical...
they should all be resolved before proofreading takes place, IMHO.
Making sure the quality is built in is a continuous process that needs
attention from the beginning of the project; you can't do it at the
last minute.

Cheers,
Art

On 12/15/06, d.mossfritch at comcast.net <d.mossfritch at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Good Day Art and Natalie,
>
> If you are looking at only spelling and grammar, perhaps. However, the
> problems encountered at our site deal more with content (complete
> procedures, no link from the help file to an application's Help buttons,
> lack of option and data column descriptions, and more) and the structure of
> documents.
>
> A couple of years ago our expert (of spelling and grammer) reviewed a
> contractor's publication and offered a couple of comments. What the expert
> had missed was the description of the software application was backwards of
> the application's actual purpose and operation.
>
> Afraid I must say that proofing a document depends upon the purpose of that
> proofing.
>
> Best,
>
>      Denise L. Moss-Fritch
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: "Art Campbell" <art.campbell at gmail.com>
>
> > In practical terms, it should be the person who gets zinged if there's
> > a mistake and/or the person in the organization with the best spelling
> > and grammar skills.
> >
> > If you're asking a process question, I'd say no, it should never be
> > the writer because he/she has looked at the copy too much to look at
> > it with fresh eyes.
> >
> > But back in practical terms, if the writer is the best speller /
> > grammarian, he/she is likely to get stuck with the job.
> >
> > Art
> >
> >
> >
> > On 12/15/06, Natalie Bircher wrote:
> > > This is off topic, but something that we all must come across as
> > > writers. Who should be responsible for the final proofin g of the
> > > documents you write? Should it ever be the writer?
>


-- 
Art Campbell                                             art.campbell at gmail.com
  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
               and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
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