[GRASS-dev] Re: [GRASS-CVS] maciej: grass6/general/g.findfile description.html, 1.4, 1.5

[Scott Mitchell]

On 23 Oct 2006, at 15:28, Markus Neteler wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 23, 2006 at 09:17:58PM +0200, grass at intevation.de wrote:
>> RCS file: /grassrepository/grass6/general/g.findfile/ 
>> description.html,v
> ...
>> +However, you can find a list of standard GRASS <em>element</em>  
>> names in the
>> +file $GISBASE/etc/element_list. This is the file which Hi,
>
> a style question: Up to now most GRASS documentation (HTML/MAN pages)
> say "the user", here "you" was introduced.
> Maybe it's a non-issue, but I feel that it the style of writing should
> be decided and homogeneous.
>
> Opinions?
>

Perhaps not a "big" issue, but not a non-issue either.  It is largely  
a personal style choice.  Using "one" is another option instead of  
"you", but that usage is falling out of style at least in North  
America.  Personally I think the "the user" solution is a nice way  
around it, and that being consistent at least in man pages leads to a  
more polished product, and is therefore a good guideline.  At the  
same time, I don't think that it's worth a major effort to scour all  
man/web pages to make it consistent, but (a) you weren't suggesting  
that, and (b) if someone wanted to, hey, it's open source ;)

On the other hand, a more "personal" style might be appropriate in  
other, non-core materials, such as tutorials.

Cheers,
Scott