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I get what the author is trying to say, and to a large extent I agree with it. But... I have to admit the first thing that came into my head after reading the

I get what the author is trying to say, and to a large extent I agree with it. But... I have to admit the first thing that came into my head after reading the title was “well actually, some of them are, dude”. There’s a reason why no-one really wants to work the hell-desk and act as the front line for user support. There’s a reason why websites like ‘Not always right’ exist. There’s a reason why Reddit has /r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk... I think it’s as much a disservice to assume that all users are enlightened angelic creatures, who only need that little pointer to go their own happy way, as it is to assume they’re all lazy and stupid. Sure, start off with the helpful approach, but shutting down people who are only there to scam a deal or make themselves a nuisance would go a long way to curbing that behaviour. Stupid, on the other hand, is something that needs to be coped with well - and good design can certainly help. Stupid needs the hand-holding, because there’s nothing the client can do to help it. “Stupid” is also often just unfamiliarity, so good hand-holding will prevent a repeat of the situation. Lazy/entitled I have no truck with. If you’re not willing to help yourself, I’m sure as hell not going to do it for you. I’d never make it past the first day in customer support...

tyingq 6y ago
They may also be in a rush, and have more important things to do. That can appear to be lazy or stupid, but it isn't really. I have that attitude towards things like expense filing software. It's a nuisance that I don't want to spend time learning, and it doesn't come up often enough to learn it well. So my click stream probably looks stupid or lazy.
- grugagag 6y ago
  I feel the same. An app shouldn’t be too complicated especially if you used different similar apps in the past and can sense the complication is unnecessary. Why spend energy and effort on something that is stupidly designed and which would probably be a one time use anyway?
Ozzie_osman 6y ago
Author here. I actually agree. Cheesy (but true) anecdote: As I was writing my article this morning, there were two distractions. First, I tabbed to Facebook where I saw one of my "friends" had posted something political that was both factually incorrect and also very offensive. It reminded me of All the Bad Things, and made me doubt my argument, to the point of almost just scrapping the article. Not just because that FB post was an example of someone being stupid and lazy, but because I had mindlessly interrupted myself and tabbed to Facebook and was about to engage with that post. My second distraction was my 2-year toddler, who had just woken up and was tugging at my sleeve. And I thought about the world I want him to grow up in and the view I want him to have of it. I know I can come across as idealistic (hell, I've even gotten that as formal feedback in a performance review—but I've also gotten feedback that I'm cynical, so shrug). But honestly, one of the wonders of us as humans is that we can carry all these different capacities. We can be smart and motivated and social. We can be stupid and lazy and anti-social. All those capacities are worthy of admiration, not contempt. Technology is a great tool, we can decide where we focus it.
- Bodell 6y ago
  I agree completely. If we pander to the lowest common denominator we only serve in lowing that denominator even farther. A “race to the bottom” where the bottom is never ending. We should instead approach issues in our lives with this “how the world should be” attitude, instead of “how do I make gains out of the world that is”. This means treating people with respect and courtesy even when we believe they are wrong. We work with them to achieve a better result, because lack of knowledge is not equal to stupidity and laziness in all cases. For instance I do not have a medical degree, but appreciate not having doctors talk down to me. Work with me, help fill in the gaps, don’t pander with hand wavy explanations. If it requires too much time in the moment then point me to were I can independently find the information and study on my own. In other words, live by the “means” not by the “ends”.
  - Ozzie_osman 6y ago
    Ah, a fellow idealist :)
- 6y ago
bluedays 6y ago
Yes, users are fucking dumb. I use to work help desk for a number of years, and the stories I could tell... Though, I sorta object to treating them all like their stupid. There are stupid users, and then there are users that are stupid because you treat them like they are. Let me explain. When I worked in healthcare I was pretty stupid. It wasn't that I didn't understand the mechanics behind it, but it just didn't click with me because the training I had was deplorable. I was regularly yelled at for making mistakes, and didn't have a really supportive environment. So in my haste to ensure I did everything quickly, and didn't make any mistakes it actually caused me to either overthink or underthink certain steps due to anxiety and nervousness. So in other words, when someone started treating me like I was stupid I was more prone to acting like I was stupid... So when I worked at help desk no matter how stupid a users was I always did my best to treat them as kindly as possible. In the end what wound up happening is that I wound up getting much better results than my coworkers who wouldn't treat them respectfully. That wasn't even my super weapon though. It was anticipation of future problems... I always really liked Roman Mars perspective on design. Good design is effortless. When you go through a door if there is a handle on it and you pull that handle you feel stupid when you see that it says pull only. So in my own way I am always trying to view things I do in IT, whether programming or helpdesk from a user centric perspective. If I think ahead of time about what sort of potential issue someone would have, and I can change something to prevent that then I have much better results. This is something I see being a problem all up and down the entire stack in IT. It is time to stop treating our users like idiots. But it’s also time to start returning to idiot proof design.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
  > Yes, users are fucking dumb. I use to work help desk for a number of years, and the stories I could tell... That sounds like textbook selection bias; users will usually end up at helpdesk only when they're out of their depth.
  - liability 6y ago
    Exactly. Users rarely if ever go to tech support to show off things they figured out themselves. Tech support pros saying users are all dumb is like brain surgeons saying everybody has brain damage.
Consultant32452 6y ago
I recently went live with a project that does okta integration with mfa. The most common support ticket is people complaining they didn't get their mfa code. Root cause: they never clicked the "send code" button.
- deltron3030 6y ago
  It's your fault because of poor naming, it should be "get code". They aren't the ones sending you something.
- wool_gather 6y ago
  It's not clear whether you intend to blame the user or the tool, but my inclination, absent any other information, would be to blame the tool. Maybe they clicked forward from a previous screen and were presented with an active text field and the "send code" button, but didn't recognize it as a button, or misunderstood its purpose, expecting the code to be delivered automatically, or thinking that it meant "send code from the user to the website" (i.e., after they have typed it in). Whatever the details, a bunch of users have an expectation that doesn't match the tool's reality. It's the job of the designer to recognize or discover that gap and find ways to remedy it.
  - lexicality 6y ago
    A user submitting a support ticket is rather like your code throwing an exception. If just one pops up in Sentry you might add a note to look at it later, but if it happens constantly you need to go fix something.
    - buzzwordninja 6y ago
      If one user submits a support ticket you can count on there being ten others that had the same problem but didn't bother.
- valuearb 6y ago
  I filled out a custom job application on a software companies site yesterday. When I finished I couldn’t figure out how to submit the form. I must have stared at it for minutes not wanting to abandon my work, until I scrolled down and the submit button popped into view. On my large screen monitor. While I’m sure your “send code” button was visible, apparently that’s not what they expected. Maybe they expected “Send MFA code”, or “Text me my code”. Maybe the terms you are using don’t match up well with their limited understanding of the domain problem. Sounds like a problem A/B testing or simple user interviews could help with.
m463 6y ago
I think you're looking at it wrong. Have you ever taught someone to drive? They have their attention completely occupied by ... everything at once. After a while you can see the pattern. "turn here. right here. WAIT TURN HERE!" "here?" "no, back there." It's not that they're stupid, it's that you have the pattern ingrained in you and you don't remember what it's like to experience something for the first time. Now yes, there are idiots - in terms of social interactions - they lack maturity or patience or speak too quickly (or are having a bad day). But don't lose compassion for 99 people for the one unenlightened person.
drchiu 6y ago
Yep. Not everyone comes from the same baseline. Different biases, experiences, knowledge, affinity for a topic, capacity to understand something at a certain speed, etc. Tangentially related, I’ve noticed some online products almost purposefully make their websites less appealing to filter out certain types of users. I think landing page copy call it “speaking to your audience,” but it’s the same thing where you’re selecting for the kind of customer you want.

tyingq 6y ago

They may also be in a rush, and have more important things to do. That can appear to be lazy or stupid, but it isn't really. I have that attitude towards things like expense filing software. It's a nuisance that I don't want to spend time learning, and it doesn't come up often enough to learn it well. So my click stream probably looks stupid or lazy.

grugagag 6y ago
I feel the same. An app shouldn’t be too complicated especially if you used different similar apps in the past and can sense the complication is unnecessary. Why spend energy and effort on something that is stupidly designed and which would probably be a one time use anyway?

Ozzie_osman 6y ago

Author here. I actually agree. Cheesy (but true) anecdote: As I was writing my article this morning, there were two distractions. First, I tabbed to Facebook where I saw one of my "friends" had posted something political that was both factually incorrect and also very offensive. It reminded me of All the Bad Things, and made me doubt my argument, to the point of almost just scrapping the article. Not just because that FB post was an example of someone being stupid and lazy, but because I had mindlessly interrupted myself and tabbed to Facebook and was about to engage with that post. My second distraction was my 2-year toddler, who had just woken up and was tugging at my sleeve. And I thought about the world I want him to grow up in and the view I want him to have of it. I know I can come across as idealistic (hell, I've even gotten that as formal feedback in a performance review—but I've also gotten feedback that I'm cynical, so shrug). But honestly, one of the wonders of us as humans is that we can carry all these different capacities. We can be smart and motivated and social. We can be stupid and lazy and anti-social. All those capacities are worthy of admiration, not contempt. Technology is a great tool, we can decide where we focus it.

Bodell 6y ago
I agree completely. If we pander to the lowest common denominator we only serve in lowing that denominator even farther. A “race to the bottom” where the bottom is never ending. We should instead approach issues in our lives with this “how the world should be” attitude, instead of “how do I make gains out of the world that is”. This means treating people with respect and courtesy even when we believe they are wrong. We work with them to achieve a better result, because lack of knowledge is not equal to stupidity and laziness in all cases. For instance I do not have a medical degree, but appreciate not having doctors talk down to me. Work with me, help fill in the gaps, don’t pander with hand wavy explanations. If it requires too much time in the moment then point me to were I can independently find the information and study on my own. In other words, live by the “means” not by the “ends”.
- Ozzie_osman 6y ago
  Ah, a fellow idealist :)
6y ago

bluedays 6y ago

Yes, users are fucking dumb. I use to work help desk for a number of years, and the stories I could tell... Though, I sorta object to treating them all like their stupid. There are stupid users, and then there are users that are stupid because you treat them like they are. Let me explain. When I worked in healthcare I was pretty stupid. It wasn't that I didn't understand the mechanics behind it, but it just didn't click with me because the training I had was deplorable. I was regularly yelled at for making mistakes, and didn't have a really supportive environment. So in my haste to ensure I did everything quickly, and didn't make any mistakes it actually caused me to either overthink or underthink certain steps due to anxiety and nervousness. So in other words, when someone started treating me like I was stupid I was more prone to acting like I was stupid... So when I worked at help desk no matter how stupid a users was I always did my best to treat them as kindly as possible. In the end what wound up happening is that I wound up getting much better results than my coworkers who wouldn't treat them respectfully. That wasn't even my super weapon though. It was anticipation of future problems... I always really liked Roman Mars perspective on design. Good design is effortless. When you go through a door if there is a handle on it and you pull that handle you feel stupid when you see that it says pull only. So in my own way I am always trying to view things I do in IT, whether programming or helpdesk from a user centric perspective. If I think ahead of time about what sort of potential issue someone would have, and I can change something to prevent that then I have much better results. This is something I see being a problem all up and down the entire stack in IT. It is time to stop treating our users like idiots. But it’s also time to start returning to idiot proof design.

yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
> Yes, users are fucking dumb. I use to work help desk for a number of years, and the stories I could tell... That sounds like textbook selection bias; users will usually end up at helpdesk only when they're out of their depth.
- liability 6y ago
  Exactly. Users rarely if ever go to tech support to show off things they figured out themselves. Tech support pros saying users are all dumb is like brain surgeons saying everybody has brain damage.

Consultant32452 6y ago

I recently went live with a project that does okta integration with mfa. The most common support ticket is people complaining they didn't get their mfa code. Root cause: they never clicked the "send code" button.

deltron3030 6y ago
It's your fault because of poor naming, it should be "get code". They aren't the ones sending you something.
wool_gather 6y ago
It's not clear whether you intend to blame the user or the tool, but my inclination, absent any other information, would be to blame the tool. Maybe they clicked forward from a previous screen and were presented with an active text field and the "send code" button, but didn't recognize it as a button, or misunderstood its purpose, expecting the code to be delivered automatically, or thinking that it meant "send code from the user to the website" (i.e., after they have typed it in). Whatever the details, a bunch of users have an expectation that doesn't match the tool's reality. It's the job of the designer to recognize or discover that gap and find ways to remedy it.
- lexicality 6y ago
  A user submitting a support ticket is rather like your code throwing an exception. If just one pops up in Sentry you might add a note to look at it later, but if it happens constantly you need to go fix something.
  - buzzwordninja 6y ago
    If one user submits a support ticket you can count on there being ten others that had the same problem but didn't bother.
valuearb 6y ago
I filled out a custom job application on a software companies site yesterday. When I finished I couldn’t figure out how to submit the form. I must have stared at it for minutes not wanting to abandon my work, until I scrolled down and the submit button popped into view. On my large screen monitor. While I’m sure your “send code” button was visible, apparently that’s not what they expected. Maybe they expected “Send MFA code”, or “Text me my code”. Maybe the terms you are using don’t match up well with their limited understanding of the domain problem. Sounds like a problem A/B testing or simple user interviews could help with.

m463 6y ago

I think you're looking at it wrong. Have you ever taught someone to drive? They have their attention completely occupied by ... everything at once. After a while you can see the pattern. "turn here. right here. WAIT TURN HERE!" "here?" "no, back there." It's not that they're stupid, it's that you have the pattern ingrained in you and you don't remember what it's like to experience something for the first time. Now yes, there are idiots - in terms of social interactions - they lack maturity or patience or speak too quickly (or are having a bad day). But don't lose compassion for 99 people for the one unenlightened person.

drchiu 6y ago

Yep. Not everyone comes from the same baseline. Different biases, experiences, knowledge, affinity for a topic, capacity to understand something at a certain speed, etc. Tangentially related, I’ve noticed some online products almost purposefully make their websites less appealing to filter out certain types of users. I think landing page copy call it “speaking to your audience,” but it’s the same thing where you’re selecting for the kind of customer you want.