Drastic surgery<\/p>\n
I'd like to thank Mr. Graeme St. John for his recent hilarious
\nletter regarding what he must see as "gobblygook" or
\n"technospeak" whenever computer nerds get together.<\/p>\n
However, he raises a good point which I would like to address
\nand that is the editing that takes place on many letters to the
\n"Your Letters" column of The Jakarta Post. I have it on good
\nauthority from a friend of mine who happens to be an editor that
\none of an editor's main responsibilities is to make written prose
\nmore cogent, not to slice, dice, and delete whole paragraphs
\nand\/or cut words that change the meaning of the writer. The
\neditor who worked on my recent letter (the Post, Sept. 5, 1995)
\nabout my problems with WIN95 alluded to by St. John, destroyed
\nthe meaning of my thinking and perhaps contributed to the miasma
\nthat so confused St. John.<\/p>\n
For the sake of space, the editor of my letter cut out the
\nlast four paragraphs and deleted several key words in other
\nparagraphs rendering it confusing and unreadable. I don't know if
\nthe same thing happened to Mr. David Jardine's letter referred to
\nby St. John, but it is certainly possible.<\/p>\n
I would like to beseech the editorial staff at the Post not to
\ndo drastic surgery on letters, especially if it is only because
\nyou want to fit something in that day's column. It would be much
\nbetter to put it in the next day's issue. If you cannot print
\nunedited letters, I ask you not to print letters from me. People
\nlike St. John may read my letter and think that is what I wrote,
\nwhen the truth is that the editors made "gobblygook" out of it
\nand gave rise to St. John's very funny letter.<\/p>\n
I'd also like to suggest to St. John that if it so upsets him
\nto read computer nerd letters that he simply not read letters
\nwith my name attached.<\/p>\n
JOHN R. FENTON<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/drastic-surgery-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }