http://bazaar-vcs.org/BzrFeatures - improving page

[Russel Winder]

On Tue, 2009-09-29 at 13:53 +0300, Jari Aalto wrote:
> Ian Clatworthy <ian.clatworthy at canonical.com> writes:
> 
> > I'd rather not change that. "You/we" makes it more personal...
> 
> I understand that this may be cultural thing, because in the US this can
> be seen in frequent use. But I'm not sure that is true elsewhere unless
> we talk about marketting.

Jari,

I'm afraid you are on weak ground on this point.  It is true that in the
past every attempt was made to avoid "you", "we", and most especially
"I" in non-fiction writing.  This was particularly true in academia
where silly idioms ended up being used, for example "the current author
has proved that . . .".  This "false modesty" mode has thankfully now
been blown away except in the most pretentious academic journals.  The
modern mode of writing is for the author to have an active conversation
with the reader, so "we" and "you" are very present, along with active
tense wherever possible.  Even "I" is allowed!

So no matter who the audience is the text is a conversation between the
writers -- in this case the people documenting Bazaar -- and the readers
who are newly arrived at the site.  People who have been to site often
before will not read the text unless they spot a new shape on the page,
they will go straight to one of the lists of links.

So we need to speak directly and actively to our audience in order to
welcome them in to the Bazaar community.

[ . . . ]
-- 
Russel.
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Dr Russel Winder      Partner
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