> The way this post starts off talking about grammar is a yellow flag for me, if not red.
I thought the post was full of useful guidance. I'm not sure what you mean with the comment about flag color. I tend to use terms like "red flag" to mean "Something is seriously amiss; perhaps I should look elsewhere for good advice.", but that doesn't seem to apply here: covering grammar in an article whose audience is people who write as part of their profession seems completely appropriate. Conversely, I'm not sure I agree with the advice that it's OK to simply not worry about it. Perhaps it depends on the experience level the guide is targeting. There are certainly more important aspects to technical documentation than grammar!
FWIW, I end up tripping over others' grammar errors far too frequently for my own comfort, though. When I've asked, it's not that they don't know in most cases, just that they don't think it matters. I tend to care both because it reads more smoothly, and because it indicates they paid attention to their work (something I value greatly). Not definitive, but certainly a strong signal.
That said, my grammar is rarely perfect, and I strongly agree that focusing on helping others is the real objective here.
The post is called technical writing for developers and then the post starts off with the very topic that intimidates and discourages a lot of developers / engineers: grammar. Putting it at the top implies it is the most important idea (see the journalism principle of the inverted pyramid for rationale). That is the red flag. My usage of that term is the same as yours. My point is precisely to not let worries about incorrect grammar stop developers from trying to create documentation. Focusing on grammar is textbook "missing the forest for the trees". There are so many more important / more fundamental ideas in technical writing than grammar. Of course you will eventually need to learn grammar to become an expert technical writer.
I thought the post was full of useful guidance. I'm not sure what you mean with the comment about flag color. I tend to use terms like "red flag" to mean "Something is seriously amiss; perhaps I should look elsewhere for good advice.", but that doesn't seem to apply here: covering grammar in an article whose audience is people who write as part of their profession seems completely appropriate. Conversely, I'm not sure I agree with the advice that it's OK to simply not worry about it. Perhaps it depends on the experience level the guide is targeting. There are certainly more important aspects to technical documentation than grammar!
FWIW, I end up tripping over others' grammar errors far too frequently for my own comfort, though. When I've asked, it's not that they don't know in most cases, just that they don't think it matters. I tend to care both because it reads more smoothly, and because it indicates they paid attention to their work (something I value greatly). Not definitive, but certainly a strong signal.
That said, my grammar is rarely perfect, and I strongly agree that focusing on helping others is the real objective here.