> Part of quality leadership is getting done what must be done, by whatever
> means are necessary and proper. If I were the president of STC, I would
> demand that the website be as close to perfect as possible -- so well done
> that a professional editor could not come along and find multiple errors on
> it.

Yeah but "perfect" and "useful" are not the same, and I would take
useful over perfect any day. Striving for useful is far more
beneficial than striving for perfect. Not to say that the site is
terribly useful, but it's getting better.

> It's this one area that has consistently been poor -- and when I was talking
> about quality at the top, I was referring to the editorial function -- the
> quality of writing and editing in all the vehicles used by STC.  I'm sure
> there are many quality people at the top of the organization, but why has
> none of them seen fit to make the public face of STC more professional?
> There is just no excuse for grammatical errors or punctuation errors on the
> website, or in the print publications, but they abound. All of those things,
> but primarily the website, are PR tools, What the public sees should thus be
> *perfect.* Of course, a stray error can creep in anywhere, but the STC site
> bears the signs of no editing and no quality control. That task should be
> mandated from the top. If the top folks are concerned about quality, why
> aren't they concerned about the image that STC has among a contingent of its
> members?

Time, money, effort... they all cost a lot. And in a volunteer
organization you get what you can out of those who step up to do the
work. If you feel this strongly about it, then step up and do the
work. Don't wait for them to farm work out to you - find the right
people to talk to and drive the results you want to see.

> I offered to help on the local site, too, and did send a few things I
> noticed to the webmaster, who welcomed the help. I told him anytime he
> needed another pair of eyes to feel free to call on me. He never did, and
> he's moved on now.

Never leave the ball in someone else's court if you're aching to play.

> You'd double-check and even quadruple-check your company brochure, wouldn't
> you? Well, the website is STC's company brochure and you can tell it's not
> been properly reviewed.
>
> I shouldn't have become involved in this again.

Well, it's obviously important to you so maybe you should.

-- 
Bill Swallow
HATT List Owner
WWP-Users List Owner
Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter
STC Single-Sourcing SIG Manager
http://techcommdood.blogspot.com
avid homebrewer and proud beer snob
"I see your OOO message and raise you a clue."

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