Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How to know you are over-explaining and oversimplifying a subject?

A textbook I used to use for technical writing had this on the cover Nobody wants to read what you write. That sounds discouraging, but often people are looking at technical information to an...

posted 5y ago by April Salutes Monica C.‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2020-02-10T14:22:54Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42507
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:58:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42507
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T10:58:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
A textbook I used to use for technical writing had this on the cover

> Nobody _wants_ to read what you write.

That sounds discouraging, but often people are looking at technical information to answer a specific question or solve a problem. Even if I'm getting lost in a Wikipedia Hole, it's because I had a question. (It then became three more questions...)

Always consider **audience and purpose**. Who is reading and why?

My drafts are long, too, but when I edit, I try to focus on the reader's next question.

A great resource is www.plainlanguage.gov .

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-02-22T22:15:35Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 1