Devoted to technical writing and technical writers

Evidently not. Penguin cancelled his two-book deal yesterday, thank the writing gods. There is still some justice in the publishing world. While there's no question about James Frey's writing ability, his failing was not abiding by the rules of his genre. Repeat kudos to The Smoking Gun for uncovering his deceptive practices.

Technical writers can learn a lesson from this. Understand what the audience expects from your documentation, and write to that purpose, and at that level. All too often, the writers of technical books and online help forget that people other than programmers are using their product. They don't meet their audience's needs, or expectations, and their writing effort fails to deliver the goods.

As a coincidental side-note, if you click on the Smoking Gun link, you'll see a mug shot of James Frey taken at the Granville, Ohio police department - a very quaint little community, almost a village. What's the coincidence? It's where my family lives.