4 ms·

The app didn't write the error message, the people implementing the app did. Any error message is just as much a form of communication between them and me as it

The app didn't write the error message, the people implementing the app did. Any error message is just as much a form of communication between them and me as it is between the app and me.

jxf 3y ago
But we can't identify which human wrote the message. There's a huge difference between a push notification that says: > Flight UA569 has been canceled. We apologize for the inconvenience and we will rebook you on the next available flight. and one that says: > Flight UA569 has been canceled. I apologize for the inconvenience and I will rebook you on the next available flight. — Alice
- vanderZwan 3y ago
  I'm not sure what you are trying to say. Yes, there is a difference in the two examples you gave, although it would have been nice if you had been more specific about what you meant. What I notice is that the first option the apology comes from the company and the people in it, and intended to imply they see it as their responsibility to fix things. The second would imply that Alice is personally to blame for the cancellation and taking responsibility. Either are technically possible, although the latter seems very unlikely to ever happen. What I fail to see is what this has to do with the error messages. The example given was "Sorry, you do not have permission to access this feature. Please contact your administrator for assistance", which falls under the first form. This seems appropriate for a message representing a team of people who wrote the program, as well as the administrator. It also is quite representative of the apology style seen in such messages.
  - jxf 3y ago
    > I'm not sure what you are trying to say. Your remark was "The app didn't write the error message, the people implementing the app did". I responded by saying that you can't tell who the human is. > it would have been nice if you had been more specific about what you meant It's the very first sentence: you can't identify the human. I showed an example of why it's different when you can tell that there is a human involved working with you specifically.
    - vanderZwan 3y ago
      Are you suggesting that the hypothetical anonymous apology by the flight company in your example is insincere and shouldn't have been given? Because if not it changes very little about the actual point, which is whether such apologies make sense or not.
bhawks 3y ago
Is it possible to apologize in advance? For me an apology requires one party listen and understand the problem the other party experienced. They then convey that understanding back to the other party along with taking some amending action. The author of the error message is communicating in a unidirectional manner to the the receiver with limited context of the overall interaction. That is a difficult scenario to attempt to apologize from.
- vanderZwan 3y ago
  Well the example error message just did, didn't it? I see no reason why one would not be able to anticipate unavoidable inconveniences in advance and write an automated apology for it.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

The app didn't write the error message, the people implementing the app did. Any error message is just as much a form of communication between them and me as it is between the app and me.

jxf 3y ago

But we can't identify which human wrote the message. There's a huge difference between a push notification that says: > Flight UA569 has been canceled. We apologize for the inconvenience and we will rebook you on the next available flight. and one that says: > Flight UA569 has been canceled. I apologize for the inconvenience and I will rebook you on the next available flight. — Alice

vanderZwan 3y ago
I'm not sure what you are trying to say. Yes, there is a difference in the two examples you gave, although it would have been nice if you had been more specific about what you meant. What I notice is that the first option the apology comes from the company and the people in it, and intended to imply they see it as their responsibility to fix things. The second would imply that Alice is personally to blame for the cancellation and taking responsibility. Either are technically possible, although the latter seems very unlikely to ever happen. What I fail to see is what this has to do with the error messages. The example given was "Sorry, you do not have permission to access this feature. Please contact your administrator for assistance", which falls under the first form. This seems appropriate for a message representing a team of people who wrote the program, as well as the administrator. It also is quite representative of the apology style seen in such messages.
- jxf 3y ago
  > I'm not sure what you are trying to say. Your remark was "The app didn't write the error message, the people implementing the app did". I responded by saying that you can't tell who the human is. > it would have been nice if you had been more specific about what you meant It's the very first sentence: you can't identify the human. I showed an example of why it's different when you can tell that there is a human involved working with you specifically.
  - vanderZwan 3y ago
    Are you suggesting that the hypothetical anonymous apology by the flight company in your example is insincere and shouldn't have been given? Because if not it changes very little about the actual point, which is whether such apologies make sense or not.

bhawks 3y ago

Is it possible to apologize in advance? For me an apology requires one party listen and understand the problem the other party experienced. They then convey that understanding back to the other party along with taking some amending action. The author of the error message is communicating in a unidirectional manner to the the receiver with limited context of the overall interaction. That is a difficult scenario to attempt to apologize from.

vanderZwan 3y ago
Well the example error message just did, didn't it? I see no reason why one would not be able to anticipate unavoidable inconveniences in advance and write an automated apology for it.
deleted 3y ago
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