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How We Tell It

How We Tell It

How We Tell It

(OP)
I am relatively new to Eng-Tips forum, but I have recently posted answers to questions raised by contributors where I've felt I have something to offer and have also posted a couple of questions in civil and geotechnical forums.  

Interestingly, I have had no responses to my questions, while, in the forums where I posted answers there was a maximum of 10 replies.  In civil and geotech forums the number of replies is generally less than 10 and very often less than 5.

Now, log onto engineering language and the picture is totally different.  Not too many questions with less than 20 answers.  120 resonses to 'Favorite Words'!!  56 to 'Date Formatting'!!!

It is essential that technical data is presented accurately and comments/recommendations are concise, however, it would appear that as engineers we are becoming more interested in how we tell it, rather than what we tell.

As an irish comedian, well known to british audiences would say about his jokes "it's the way I tell 'em"

RE: How We Tell It

I think it may also have something to do with the way the forums here are arranged.
Everybody has some interest in the generic areas - language/history of engineering/career development. Most people also have some experience and an opinion on the topic, so most people check them.

With other topics though, the way they are subdivided, many questions could be placed in a variety of subtopics, which means that people who might be able to help often don't see the question.

There is also no facility for pulling up the last 30 threads updated or some such so that you get an overview of everything going on.

RE: How We Tell It

I think it has a bit to do with whether the topic starting post is seeking purely technical assistance or less rigorously supported opinions.  Whether or not the topic has potential for controversy (or simply has something controversial interjected) certainly influences a thread's post count.  Topics with wider applicability can run longer - certain automotive threads have become rather lengthy by way of example.

It is also likely that it depends on the volume of individual forum traffic.  

As far as the Language & Grammar Skills forum is concerned, I'm sure that a far greater proportion of the members feel qualified to comment on a variety of topics that are posted here, as opposed to responding to specific technical questions that are completely outside their education and experience.

Norm

RE: How We Tell It

Some topics are highly technical in nature and original poster's question may have been answered within a few follow-ups.

I can't speak of others but at least for me, topics presented in Engineering Language/Grammar Skills are important, yet, lighter in nature.  Many responses do tend to resemble chat-rooms and often, posters diverge from the original post.

RE: How We Tell It

I think drobi has successfully deduced the forumla for success in business. from what I;ve seen though I would say that 'How you tell it' is just as important as 'how you look' when you're telling it.

I've seen complete idiots give presentations on subjects they knew little about but were able to add a sufficient number of acronyms/buzz words to leave management drooling in delight. Language is important though I'd advise people to read Dilbert and not the Oxford English Language Dictionary, if they want success.

corus

RE: How We Tell It

To add to corus' post, Dilbert is not a comic strip, it's a documentary.

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