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Re: changes in r112843


From: Glenn Morris
Subject: Re: changes in r112843
Date: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:41:05 -0400
User-agent: Gnus (www.gnus.org), GNU Emacs (www.gnu.org/software/emacs/)

First, thank you for trying to improve the Emacs documentation.

My main point was, please don't copy text from other sources (especially
without attribution). Instead, it is much better to add a
cross-reference. This avoids duplication, and helps keep the size of the
manual down. (Or find your own phrasing. If you are not confident that
you have it correct, there are lots of people on this list who love
critiquing grammar etc.)

In this case, it would be something like: for more information on
branches, see <url:wikipedia/branches>. Which IMO shows how pointless it
is, because such a note could be added after just about every word in
the manual. It's obvious, and we don't need to state the obvious.

The Emacs manual does not need to explain why to use branches. It just
needs to say; if you _are_ using branches, here is how Emacs can help.
To avoid anyone reading the Emacs manual who doesn't know what a branch
is getting totally confused, there can optionally be a brief explanatory
sentence. That is what the original text had. Of course we could quibble
about the precise wording all day, but doing so won't improve the Emacs
manual measurably.



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