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

[Flato, Gillian]

Why not use the name of the software in the message instead of We. So,
for example, if you are using a software called Ender Wiggens, state:

Wait while Ender Wiggens updates the database. 

This avoids unclear pronouns, passive voice, and has a clear antecedent.

-Gillian


-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Writer
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 6:52 AM
To: Fred Ridder; Frame Users; Mike Wickham
Subject: Re: Use of "please" in technical documentation and messages on
screen


Microsoft Word would chide you for using a sentence fragment. =D

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: "Fred Ridder" <docudoc at hotmail.com>, "Frame Users"
<framers at lists.FrameUsers.com>
> Received: Friday, June 26, 2009, 9:39 AM
> Actually, the way I would write the
> message avoids passive voice and omits 
> needless words. I would write, "Updating result list.
> Please wait..."
> 
> Mike Wickham
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> But in order to avoid the passive voice, the UI resorts to
> the first person 
> plural, which is also discouraged in most technical writing
> style guides. At 
> best, the pronoun is unclear because it does not have a
> clear antecedent; at 
> worst, it is punning words in the mouth of the company,
> which can 
> potentially have lkegal consequences (at least in a
> litigious society like 
> the US).
> 
> This is one of the occasions where the passive voice is
> actually 
> appropriate, because it is inconsequential to the user who
> or what is 
> performing the act. All that really matters to the user is
> that the process 
> is occurring.
> 
> 
> 
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