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Speaking as a former Blog Bar Raiser, cperciva has internalized the AWS blog style guide better than most Amazonians. This is spot-on.

cperciva 21d ago
Wait, there's an official style guide? (In all seriousness, I've been reading AWS launch posts for 20 years; this one was mainly imitating the S3 Files launch post but I diverged by adding the customer quote and the FAQ -- because of course I started this process with a PRFAQ, and some of the questions in the FAQ are legitimately important.)
- dbarlett 21d ago
  I left 18 months ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but there was at least an overall style guide, one for each post type (e.g. a launch announcement), and the style for procedures (inherited from AWS Docs).
  - cperciva 21d ago
    Oh, I was being facetious. I'm pretty sure Jeff mentioned needing to spend time writing a style guide when he started having other Amazonians write posts for "his" blog. As a non-Amazonian I've never seen it, of course.
    - jeffbarr 21d ago
      Actually, it is public -- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-principles-aws-news-bloggers-jeff-barr/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-principles-aws-new... .
      - cperciva 21d ago
        Oh, I assumed that "style guide" meant things like starting launch posts with "I'm excited to announce", providing a simple demonstration of how to use the service, including screenshots, including a customer quote if available, and ensuring that pricing and availability were clearly laid out.
        donavanm 20d ago
        There are, internally, and theyre pretty good. I always tried to use the AWS Docs style guide when writing internally, for example. Theyre specific on how to refer to products vs services vs features, which nouns to use, tone, grammar, etc. PS: you might get tripped up on 0x00, 0x2F, or similar control characters? As i recall any valid octet can be included in a label. We definitely saw literal ‘*’ and ‘.’ inside labels. And I wouldnt be surprised to find a bell in there either.
        cperciva 20d ago
        [dead]
deleted 21d ago
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georgemcbay 21d ago
> cperciva has internalized the AWS blog style guide better than most Amazonians A little bit of Canadian/non-American English slipped in (eg. enrol, behaviour), which AFAIK would have been flagged for a real Amazon post because as Americans we were brave enough to get rid of the 'U' in a lot of British words, like 'colour' and 'armour'. But by God, we kept the British 'U' in the word 'glamour'.
- cperciva 21d ago
  Yeah, I was aware of those... but I just couldn't bring myself to write American, especially in the current political climate. You can consider those a non-tariff trade barrier.
  - georgemcbay 21d ago
    That's entirely fair. As a heavily disaffected American (who still can't wrap his head around the fact that we let this happen twice) I support any form of protest against us.
  - QuinnyPig 21d ago
    It was my first feedback for you. I’m still incensed.

cperciva 21d ago

Wait, there's an official style guide? (In all seriousness, I've been reading AWS launch posts for 20 years; this one was mainly imitating the S3 Files launch post but I diverged by adding the customer quote and the FAQ -- because of course I started this process with a PRFAQ, and some of the questions in the FAQ are legitimately important.)

dbarlett 21d ago
I left 18 months ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but there was at least an overall style guide, one for each post type (e.g. a launch announcement), and the style for procedures (inherited from AWS Docs).
- cperciva 21d ago
  Oh, I was being facetious. I'm pretty sure Jeff mentioned needing to spend time writing a style guide when he started having other Amazonians write posts for "his" blog. As a non-Amazonian I've never seen it, of course.
  - jeffbarr 21d ago
    Actually, it is public -- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-principles-aws-news-bloggers-jeff-barr/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-principles-aws-new... .
    - cperciva 21d ago
      Oh, I assumed that "style guide" meant things like starting launch posts with "I'm excited to announce", providing a simple demonstration of how to use the service, including screenshots, including a customer quote if available, and ensuring that pricing and availability were clearly laid out.
      - donavanm 20d ago
        There are, internally, and theyre pretty good. I always tried to use the AWS Docs style guide when writing internally, for example. Theyre specific on how to refer to products vs services vs features, which nouns to use, tone, grammar, etc. PS: you might get tripped up on 0x00, 0x2F, or similar control characters? As i recall any valid octet can be included in a label. We definitely saw literal ‘*’ and ‘.’ inside labels. And I wouldnt be surprised to find a bell in there either.
        cperciva 20d ago
        [dead]

deleted 21d ago

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georgemcbay 21d ago

> cperciva has internalized the AWS blog style guide better than most Amazonians A little bit of Canadian/non-American English slipped in (eg. enrol, behaviour), which AFAIK would have been flagged for a real Amazon post because as Americans we were brave enough to get rid of the 'U' in a lot of British words, like 'colour' and 'armour'. But by God, we kept the British 'U' in the word 'glamour'.

cperciva 21d ago
Yeah, I was aware of those... but I just couldn't bring myself to write American, especially in the current political climate. You can consider those a non-tariff trade barrier.
- georgemcbay 21d ago
  That's entirely fair. As a heavily disaffected American (who still can't wrap his head around the fact that we let this happen twice) I support any form of protest against us.
- QuinnyPig 21d ago
  It was my first feedback for you. I’m still incensed.