# HG changeset patch
# User Karl Berry <karl@freefriends.org>
# Date 1547916173 28800
# Node ID 367366e0baa020dd51dd793278f46b22b1be8ef2
# Parent  a15f73f2ba129dd67539e9e5e8e0e6486f14165c
autoupdate

diff -r a15f73f2ba12 -r 367366e0baa0 doc/standards.texi
--- a/doc/standards.texi	Thu Jan 17 19:40:26 2019 +0100
+++ b/doc/standards.texi	Sat Jan 19 08:42:53 2019 -0800
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 @setfilename standards.info
 @settitle GNU Coding Standards
 @c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:
-@set lastupdate August 3, 2018
+@set lastupdate January 14, 2019
 @c %**end of header
 
 @dircategory GNU organization
@@ -3313,6 +3313,27 @@
 at the beginning, and advanced topics only later.  This also means
 defining every specialized term when it is first used.
 
+Remember that the audience for a GNU manual (and other GNU
+documentation) is global, and that it will be used for years, maybe
+decades.  This means that the reader could have very different cultural
+reference points.  Decades from now, all but old folks will have very
+different cultural reference points; many things that "everyone knows
+about" today may be mostly forgotten.
+
+For this reason, try to avoid writing in a way that crucially depends on
+cultural reference points for understanding, or that refers to them in
+ways that would impede reading for someone that doesn't recognize them.
+
+Likewise, be conservative in your choice of words (aside from technical
+terms), linguistic constructs, and spelling: aim to make them
+intelligeble to readers from ten years ago.  In any contest for
+trendiness, GNU writing should not even qualify to enter.
+
+It is ok to refer once in a rare while to spacially or temporally
+localized reference points or facts, if it is directly pertinent or as
+an aside.  Changing these few things (which in any case stand out) when
+they no longer make sense will not be a lot of work.
+
 Programmers tend to carry over the structure of the program as the
 structure for its documentation.  But this structure is not
 necessarily good for explaining how to use the program; it may be