3 ms·
Back in the early days of my career and supporting end users, I used to constantly get people say: “xxx doesn’t work. I just get an error” They would never
by hnlmorg 1y ago
Back in the early days of my career and supporting end users, I used to constantly get people say:
“xxx doesn’t work. I just get an error”
They would never tell me what the error message actually was. And when I asked, the reply often was
“I don’t remember. I’ve closed it now”.
It used to wind me up rotten. I can forget non-technical people not understanding the error message. But common sense should have kicked in that the error message is important to share with the person trying to fix said error.
- rkagerer 1y agoMaybe all errors should be presented with a simple, distinctive and memorable theme - e.g. show a pig photo in that one maybe they'll remember "I got the pig error"
- Xss3 1y agoCould make cute pictures and brighten support staffs day. 'I got a pig telling a chicken that the barn is closed??'
- tough 1y agolmfao this is genius and would work better than text
- netsharc 1y agoI was thinking celebrities, but then people will misidentify them. Each micro-service (in 2025?!?!) would have different pictures of a particular celebrity, for different errors.. so if the user says e.g. "I see Taylor Swift doing..." the support can say "Let me forward you to the S3 people!".
- yencabulator 1y agoHow much do you want to owe in license fees for their likeness?
- netsharc 1y agoOh, boring bean counters...
- Xss3 1y agoAnimals are way more cross culture compatible
- JadeNB 1y ago> Maybe all errors should be presented with a simple, distinctive and memorable theme - e.g. show a pig photo in that one maybe they'll remember "I got the pig error" This sounds like the thing that they do in parking garages where each level will have a color, an image, or sometimes even a musical theme. (Which is to say, it sounds like a good idea!)
- lostlogin 1y agoThat’s a good idea - and even technical users would find that more memorable than 1198854 versus a 1197854 error.
- hinkley 1y agoI think you're going to find people mistaking one animal for another.
- yencabulator 1y agoError detecting/correcting codes! The pig is laying down. The horse is eating. The bird is sitting. If you say you saw a pig eating, you misremember.
- magicalhippo 1y agoYou can dunk on lay people all you want, personally I'm a lot more furious about fellow programmers who thinks it's OK to show an error that says "file not found" without any context like the filename. Like, help a brother out!
- hnlmorg 1y agoWriting helpful error messages is definitely a skill. And I too get annoyed at unhelpful error messages. But I don’t think your point invalidates mine.