Karl Hasselström <kha@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> On 2007-05-12 16:38:27 +0200, Yann Dirson wrote:
>
>> However, that makes me think we should probably use guideline for
>> the docs - here comes the question of which convention to use when
>> refering to the user. Do we address her directly ("you"), indirectly
>> ("the user", "her" - don't remember where the "female user" use
>> comes from, but we could maybe follow this), even more indirectly
>> ("one"), or any other way ?
>
> I'd go with "you", or possibly "one" (but I strongly prefer "you").
> Talking about the user in the third person ("the user", "her", etc.)
> seems actively wrong when we are instructing the user on how to do
> things.
With the context in question, I find 'the user' is the most
natural and neutral.
I think the "female user" use is not so widely accepted. I
always found it to be a sign that the author, a lonely male nerd
developer, is wishing to live in a dream world where he becomes
a hero by helping an attractive female user that he would never
have chance to interact with otherwise in his real life ;-).
For tutorial/walkthru type of documentation, my usual preference
is "we", not "you". "Now our little repository should be in
this shape." "Let's change our Makefile to do a bit more."
That sets the tone that a slightly more knowledgeable friend is
helping the user by working together with him, instead of an
expert talking to a stupid user from a high place, but that is a
bit offtopic.
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