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As a designer, I have no problem calling myself UX designer. Sure, “users”, whatever. We never lose sight of the fact that user is a human being and we are desi

by flixic 8y ago

As a designer, I have no problem calling myself UX designer. Sure, “users”, whatever. We never lose sight of the fact that user is a human being and we are designing for other sensitive, diverse people. User is an established term for a person in software, just like customer is a term for a person in commerce, or patient in hospitals. These are all humans and nobody is losing sight of that. No need to rebel against that just to express certain moral high ground.

cyberferret 8y ago
I agree. I've always seen 'users' as simply a term for 'people who use my software'. It's a bit like when a local airline here once spent millions in branding research, and started calling their passengers 'customers'. It was really odd to be sitting at the airport and hear the call "XYZ Airline would like to advise all customers on flight 123 that their aircraft is ready for boarding through gate 6"... I always think of the term 'passenger' in more romantic terms, whereas 'customer' seems more mundane. FWIW, the airline seems to have dropped that branding now, and have reverted to calling their, ahem, passengers as 'passengers'.
- zebracanevra 8y ago
  In Sydney, the public transport trains refer to all of their passengers as "customers" as well. Every single time I am referred to by that name over the PA it weirds me out. Maybe if this was a private system, but for public transport? Customer is just the wrong word.
  - c22 8y ago
    When I was in jail they referred to me as a "client" which I thought was rather odd.
  - mitchbob 8y ago
    If you paid money for your trip, you're a customer.
- heavenlyblue 8y ago
  Don’t they use that in the UK everywhere?
stuntkite 8y ago
A friend of mine once pointed out that "Only drug dealers and software companies call their customers users." I don't think he was attempting to disparage the practice and I don't sit on one side or the other with the term. I do think it's interesting though. Drugs and software and their usage are kind of similar in their human interaction. It's very personal with a short hop from the provider to consumer's brain.
marinman 8y ago
Totally agree. Besides, if we're talking semantics, shouldn't it be "people, not humans." Yes, these users are human beings but outside of academic settings, who ever calls someone a "human?"
- pvaldes 8y ago
  Robots

by flixic 8y ago

cyberferret 8y ago

I agree. I've always seen 'users' as simply a term for 'people who use my software'. It's a bit like when a local airline here once spent millions in branding research, and started calling their passengers 'customers'. It was really odd to be sitting at the airport and hear the call "XYZ Airline would like to advise all customers on flight 123 that their aircraft is ready for boarding through gate 6"... I always think of the term 'passenger' in more romantic terms, whereas 'customer' seems more mundane. FWIW, the airline seems to have dropped that branding now, and have reverted to calling their, ahem, passengers as 'passengers'.

zebracanevra 8y ago
In Sydney, the public transport trains refer to all of their passengers as "customers" as well. Every single time I am referred to by that name over the PA it weirds me out. Maybe if this was a private system, but for public transport? Customer is just the wrong word.
- c22 8y ago
  When I was in jail they referred to me as a "client" which I thought was rather odd.
- mitchbob 8y ago
  If you paid money for your trip, you're a customer.
heavenlyblue 8y ago
Don’t they use that in the UK everywhere?

stuntkite 8y ago

A friend of mine once pointed out that "Only drug dealers and software companies call their customers users." I don't think he was attempting to disparage the practice and I don't sit on one side or the other with the term. I do think it's interesting though. Drugs and software and their usage are kind of similar in their human interaction. It's very personal with a short hop from the provider to consumer's brain.

marinman 8y ago

Totally agree. Besides, if we're talking semantics, shouldn't it be "people, not humans." Yes, these users are human beings but outside of academic settings, who ever calls someone a "human?"

pvaldes 8y ago
Robots