"Walter Bright" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]... > On 1/14/2012 1:00 PM, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> "Walter Bright"<[email protected]> wrote in message >> news:[email protected]... >>> >>> You and I are going to disagree on this. >>> >> >> Dosn't the reader mean "The reader and I are going to disagree on this"? >> ;) >> (only j/k, of course. Although I have always hated when authors say "the >> reader" instead of "you" which is what was obviously meant anyway. I just >> sounds bad. I always read it as a clear sign the author was trying *way* >> too >> hard to be "correct".) > > I agree with your comment about "the reader" being pretentious. > > As for my use of "you" there, I was talking specifically to Jonathan. > That's different from writing a tech manual. Wearing jeans is appropriate > in a conversation. >
Yup, just kidding on that like I said. :) >>> But I will add that excessive use of "you" in technically minded books >>> tends to, in my mind, reduce the book a grade in quality. >> >> The key there is "excessive use", not "any use". Eliminating excessive >> use >> of "you" certainly improves the quality. But compulsively eliminating >> "you", >> at best, makes the text sound pedantic, at worst, decreases the quality. >> Either way, compulsively eliminating it leads to pointless contrivances >> and >> awkward euphemisms like "the reader". > > The steps are: > > Novice: follow the rules because you're told to > > Master: follow the rules because you understand the rules > > Guru: break the rules because you know the limits of the rules Very, very true.
