4 ms·

What's the alternative?

by bauerd 7y ago

bipson 7y ago
Learning to describe your problem. Specific knowledge aside, I am always astonished that people not being able to coherently read and write is getting worse. That's something YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook don't teach I guess?
- bauerd 7y ago
  The two are not exclusive
  - thrower123 7y ago
    Exactly - together they make a wonderful synergy. I die a little inside every time I get a bug report that is just a couple sentences saying that something didn't work. I also die a little every time I get a bug report that is just an out-of-context downsampled screenshot of some dashboard, where it has been shrunk so the text is not readable, and there is nothing highlighting what the issue is. I have to really, really fight back the urge to send back a message with nothing but a gif of the Jerry Maguire "Help me help you" scene
- baq 7y ago
  i can do that very well thank you, i just don't have the time budget. i also don't have time to spend on deciphering the problem from a description from even a well-spoken user if a single screenshot would be self-explanatory. of course it's useful to be able to describe the problem, but most of the time there's no ROI and opportunity cost is prohibitive.
- PeterisP 7y ago
  Thing is, accurately describing the problem often is 90% of the solution, and the only reason why you can't solve it yourself and are asking for help is because you don't have the skill, knowledge or experience to see what is wrong there. Similarly, if I'm doing the diagnosis, I don't want your description of what you see there (because that's likely misinformed, misleading, or missing the point), I want the actual evidence.
- anchpop 7y ago
  But twitter and texting do teach it, and those are both very popular. Even reddit is mainstream now. People probably read more now than at any other point in history. I'm very skeptical that the average reading and writing ability has decreased in the last 50 years

What's the alternative?

by bauerd 7y ago

What's the alternative?

Learning to describe your problem. Specific knowledge aside, I am always astonished that people not being able to coherently read and write is getting worse. That's something YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook don't teach I guess?

bauerd 7y ago
The two are not exclusive
- thrower123 7y ago
  Exactly - together they make a wonderful synergy. I die a little inside every time I get a bug report that is just a couple sentences saying that something didn't work. I also die a little every time I get a bug report that is just an out-of-context downsampled screenshot of some dashboard, where it has been shrunk so the text is not readable, and there is nothing highlighting what the issue is. I have to really, really fight back the urge to send back a message with nothing but a gif of the Jerry Maguire "Help me help you" scene
baq 7y ago
i can do that very well thank you, i just don't have the time budget. i also don't have time to spend on deciphering the problem from a description from even a well-spoken user if a single screenshot would be self-explanatory. of course it's useful to be able to describe the problem, but most of the time there's no ROI and opportunity cost is prohibitive.
PeterisP 7y ago
Thing is, accurately describing the problem often is 90% of the solution, and the only reason why you can't solve it yourself and are asking for help is because you don't have the skill, knowledge or experience to see what is wrong there. Similarly, if I'm doing the diagnosis, I don't want your description of what you see there (because that's likely misinformed, misleading, or missing the point), I want the actual evidence.
anchpop 7y ago
But twitter and texting do teach it, and those are both very popular. Even reddit is mainstream now. People probably read more now than at any other point in history. I'm very skeptical that the average reading and writing ability has decreased in the last 50 years