Use of "please" in technical documentation and messages on screen

[Writer]

I dislike the passive voice, but I dislike software anthropomorphism more. Who is "we"? Software elves? The little ghosts in the machine? Sounds more like Pac Man.

Nadine

--- On Fri, 6/26/09, Mike Wickham <info at mikewickham.com> wrote:

> From: Mike Wickham <info at mikewickham.com>
> Subject: Re: Use of "please" in technical documentation and messages on screen
> To: "Andersen, Verner Engell VEA" <verner.andersen at radiometer.dk>, "Frame Users" <framers at lists.FrameUsers.com>
> Received: Friday, June 26, 2009, 8:24 AM
> I don't know about the rules of
> technical documentation, but "please wait" 
> sounds much better than just a command to wait.
> 
> More importantly, I love that you didn't use passive voice.
> You used 
> "updating the result list" instead of the typical, "the
> result list is being 
> updated." Bravo!
> 
> Mike Wickham
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> > Hi
> > Once I learned that you shouln't use the word "please"
> in technical
> > documentation - that it was like asking the reader to
> do you favor.
> >
> > Does this still hold true? Is it OK to have this
> message displayed on
> > the screen of our user interface?
> >
> > "We are updating the result list, please wait"
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Verner
> 
> 
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