One of the reasons for this is that many companies use their engineers
to write the user manual thereby saving the cost of a dedicated
technical writer (yes - I is a tech wroter). As an example I've been
having a long battle with our engineers about a button in our Internet
interface. It says "delete mailbox." We get about a call a month from
customers who wonder if this will delete (as in destroy) their
e-mailbox. All it really does is "empty mailbox." Your next e-mail
will be delivered with no problem.

They won't change the button because technically it does delete the
mailbox, but reconstructs it with the next e-mail. I've tried to argue
that the customer really doesn't care about being technically
accurate, they just want to empty out their mailbox.

Thanks for letting me vent -- this little problem has been bugging me
for 3 years (along with an un-numbered amount of customer calls).

On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 16:19:28 -0400, Rod Upfold wrote:

You would think that what we pay for a piece of equipment, that the
manufactures could produce a descent manua.


Who has the worst manual?


Thank you


Rodl