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Journals by EmailAt the STC conference, I remember someone—possibly Scott Abel in a presentation—saying that technical communicators really ought to be out in the online support forums for the products that they document. I agree; in the forums you can see the problems that real users are having and what the answers are if anyone has provided them. Being the technical writer, you may know some of those answers yourself. But at the very least, you can find out how people are using the product and what frustrates them.
It seems that Adobe heard the call. Within the last couple of days, a self-identified “technical writer for RH working at Adobe” has begun participating in the RoboHelp forums on Adobe’s site.
The RoboHelp experts, Peter Grainge and Rick Stone, have warned forum users that Adobe management does not monitor the forums and use them as sources of feedback about the software. Peter has used his status as an expert to pass some of the more dire problems back to Adobe, and occasionally a RoboHelp product manager will post, but for the most part, until now there has been a disconnect between the forum users and the RoboHelp team.
I don’t know if there are technical writers now participating in other Adobe forums, but this is a good sign. I can’t say whether this technical writer is new, but the fact that she is now participating in the forums indicates that this may be the first attempt at giving the forums some attention.
I would say, however, that this RoboHelp writer has her work cut out for her. Months and months of forum posts and discussions await her perusal and incorporation into the documentation. Many, myself included, have been dissatisfied with RoboHelp’s help system (an irony pointed out by not a few forum users). I imagine I’m not the only RoboHelp user waiting to see what this technical writer will do with this HAT’s own help. I’m sure it can only be improved with the wealth of information she can glean from the forums.
Related entries (auto-generated):
Three out of Four User Education Team Members Choose Flare
A Team Member with the Heart of a Technical Communicator
RoboHelp and Flare: Room at the Table
Why Writers Should Be Involved Throughout the Project Lifecycle
2 Comments to 'The Technical Communicator Getting Involved in User Forums'
June 20, 2008
Completely agree that technical writers/communicators… whatever… should be part of company/product forums. I believe this so strongly I’m setting ours up as we speak!
We down play our role a lot of the time but the simple fact is that we have a unique view of a product, understanding the market it is being sold into, the people who will be using it, as well as how to use it and what some of the pitfalls may be. NO-ONE else in a software company has that view.
In recent emails with Anne Gentle, we’ve realised that, using the term from The Tipping Point, technical communicators are Mavens. A forum is one place where a Maven can have a big impact.
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August 1, 2008
Hi, I think this is a must for any writer, customer support rep, or marketer of any manufacturer or software vendor to keep an open ear for the users and be active in all sorts of communities – online or offline. I do marketing for PTC’s Arbortext IsoDraw (formerly ITEDO) – unfortunately, there are not many places on the Web where you can meet technical illustrators
Besides, there are regional differences – while North America is very active in online media use, Germany is – well, not far behind, but has just started catching up 
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