3 ms·

Ouch, I don't know the english word for it, but you're making a severe error by assuming that pro's and cons are as likely to report here. If you really want to

by jauco 17y ago

Ouch, I don't know the english word for it, but you're making a severe error by assuming that pro's and cons are as likely to report here. If you really want to know whether it's coincidental or not you'd have to phone people chosen at random from the total population (just humans, just americans or just american programmers for example)

nostrademons 17y ago
"Selection bias" is the term you're looking for. ;-) And yes, I know I'm making it, and choosing to make it anyway. Mostly because it squares with my own experience (there's a term for that too: "anecdotal evidence"), and because we don't have any evidence the other way.
- mnemonicsloth 17y ago
  it squares with my own experience The placebo effect can make cancer go away for a while. Vanishing RSI is trivial. You're especially at risk because you've already sunk time and effort into retraining yourself, and have made a conscious decision to separate yourself from everybody else. That's Big Magic, psychosomatically speaking. None of this means you have to go back to QWERTY (or for that matter, that QWERTY is any less broken). But if Dvorak's research really was shoddy and self-serving, and you want to take care of the hands you presumably use to earn a living, wouldn't it be a good idea at this point to look into other keyboard layouts with better-documented benefits? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html
  - richardw 17y ago
    I'd really like to find some research on people that were proficient with Dvorak first and then were asked to learn QWERTY. I suspect the take-up (even for those desperately wanting to be different) would be lower! There's quite a cost to re-learning how to type, so let's not discount that some people still think it's worth it. Personally, I did it because a couple of my mates were still happy with it after a year and it started making sense on day 1, before any Big Magic kicked in :)

by jauco 17y ago

nostrademons 17y ago

"Selection bias" is the term you're looking for. ;-) And yes, I know I'm making it, and choosing to make it anyway. Mostly because it squares with my own experience (there's a term for that too: "anecdotal evidence"), and because we don't have any evidence the other way.

mnemonicsloth 17y ago
it squares with my own experience The placebo effect can make cancer go away for a while. Vanishing RSI is trivial. You're especially at risk because you've already sunk time and effort into retraining yourself, and have made a conscious decision to separate yourself from everybody else. That's Big Magic, psychosomatically speaking. None of this means you have to go back to QWERTY (or for that matter, that QWERTY is any less broken). But if Dvorak's research really was shoddy and self-serving, and you want to take care of the hands you presumably use to earn a living, wouldn't it be a good idea at this point to look into other keyboard layouts with better-documented benefits? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html
- richardw 17y ago
  I'd really like to find some research on people that were proficient with Dvorak first and then were asked to learn QWERTY. I suspect the take-up (even for those desperately wanting to be different) would be lower! There's quite a cost to re-learning how to type, so let's not discount that some people still think it's worth it. Personally, I did it because a couple of my mates were still happy with it after a year and it started making sense on day 1, before any Big Magic kicked in :)