Completely disagree that this is a form of virtue signaling; everything the article outlines is reflected in the major documentation style guides (e.g., MMoS or the Google developer documentation style guide).
- Don't make unsubstantiated claims about your product.
- Don't discuss upcoming features or refer to existing features as "new" outside of announcements/release notes.
- Don't make promises about uptime or other things that belong in an SLA—this can have nasty legal implications down the line.
- Don't waste time with marketing-speak; your reader is either already using your product or is on the verge of using your product (and consulting the quality of your docs before they decide to move forward).
- Don't use ambiguous language or cultural idioms that may confuse ESL readers.
- Don't preface instructions with how easy it is to do something; every reader has a different level of experience and background knowledge. Also, if you say that your product is easy to use and then it actually isn't, it makes you look like an idiot. Or disingenuous. Or both.
You lost me there again, my friend. Technical writing stylebooks draw no correlation between adverbs and nervous breakdowns. You seem to be tilting at an entirely different windmill than the one I'm tending to.
- Don't make unsubstantiated claims about your product.
- Don't discuss upcoming features or refer to existing features as "new" outside of announcements/release notes.
- Don't make promises about uptime or other things that belong in an SLA—this can have nasty legal implications down the line.
- Don't waste time with marketing-speak; your reader is either already using your product or is on the verge of using your product (and consulting the quality of your docs before they decide to move forward).
- Don't use ambiguous language or cultural idioms that may confuse ESL readers.
- Don't preface instructions with how easy it is to do something; every reader has a different level of experience and background knowledge. Also, if you say that your product is easy to use and then it actually isn't, it makes you look like an idiot. Or disingenuous. Or both.