A clear instruction is the most helpful (“Try again or contact support”). A root cause reason for the error (“Connection timed out”) is somewhat helpful, an err

A clear instruction is the most helpful (“Try again or contact support”). A root cause reason for the error (“Connection timed out”) is somewhat helpful, an error code (“408”) can be at least a little bit helpful if user-facing or customer support-facing documentation exists. It’s not the job of the software to make the user feel better or be the user's friend. It is the software's job to accomplish a task effectively or to communicate why it can’t. Maybe some day we can have NN and LLM friends in the style of Blade Runner’s Joi - it would certainly be an interesting future to think about. Until then, software should focus on its core purpose, which is certainly not friendship with the user.