Tim Murray wrote:
Frankly I'm a good editor. I've written plenty of style guides, and in fact I helped IBM write a major guide the early 80s.
Cool! I worked for IBM Australia in the early 90s. Maybe I used your style guide. :-)
I'm really glad to have you, and the other recent editorial volunteers, on the team. I've really been overwhelmed with the amount of work, especially since I've been doing too much of the writing too.
We've tried to minimise the detail in the style guide, so as not to put too much of a barrier in the way of inexperienced volunteers. OTOH, several authors have asked for more detail, so we might need to rethink this approach.
My general feeling is that the authors do the research and writing, and if they happen to be a bit weak in some areas of writing, then the editors can tidy up a lot of the stylistic stuff, phraseology, etc. As far as I know, the authors have been happy with this arrangement. They learn quickly too! :-)
Cheers, Jean
