OT - Who should be responsible for proofing?

[Natalie Bircher]

Fred, I agree with your philosophy.

Of course we all try to do our best to write it right the first time,
but things will escape us, and there will always be "better choices"
that could be made (such as a more common example).

The writer should definitely do a spell check and re-read what they have
written to look for best word usage/punctuation/capitalization issues.
Also check for spacing and graphics issues.

We will probably agree that SMEs should be available to check for
content and usage. In our company, the trainer determines the order of
the topics, so they would check that. I would also maintain that other
English-major-types look at the doc for structure, consistency of style
and format and double-check for punctuation, spelling and
capitalization.

It seems that the only time anyone here disagrees with this, is when an
error slips through. Then out comes the tar and feathers for the
writer...never for the other FIVE people who looked at it.

?



-----Original Message-----
From: Ridder, Fred [mailto:fred.ridder at intel.com] 
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 3:31 PM
To: d.mossfritch at comcast.net; Art Campbell; Natalie Bircher
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: OT - Who should be responsible for proofing?

What you have described is much deeper than what I
would call proofreading. I would put some it under the 
heading of SME content review (which shouldn't get 
sidetracked in issues of grammar or punctuation), and 
most of it under editing (which really has several of its
own subcategories).

No one set of eyes is ever going to pick up all classes 
of errors and issues. And if the number of different people 
available to review/edit/proofread a document is limited,
you'll still get better results if those people do multiple
passes through the document with a limited scope for 
each pass. 

My opinions only; I don't speak for Intel.
Fred Ridder (fred dot ridder at intel dot com)
Intel
Parsippany, NJ


-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+fred.ridder=intel.com at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+fred.ridder=intel.com at lists.frameusers.com] On
Behalf Of d.mossfritch at comcast.net
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 3:19 PM
To: Art Campbell; Natalie Bircher
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: OT - Who should be responsible for proofing?

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 proofing of the 
> > documents you write? Should it ever be the writer? 
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