2 ms·

They also tend to hate technology, because us nerds are often unbearable. They hate having to go through people that get them upset, in order to use their kit.

They also tend to hate technology, because us nerds are often unbearable. They hate having to go through people that get them upset, in order to use their kit. Not just tech (although it’s more prevalent). People who are “handy” can also be that way (but, for some reason, techies tend to be more abrasive). I’ve learned the utility of being patient, and not showing the exasperation that is often boiling inside of me.

tomcam 7mo ago
Amen. I couldn’t have said it better. In general for the 40+ years I’ve been a programmer I have detested the practice of not surfacing diagnostic information to users when technology makes it possible to do so in a clear and unambiguous way.
- graemep 7mo ago
  Most users tend to ignore diagnostic information. "What did the error message say" "I don't know."
  - Telaneo 7mo ago
    This is because error messages have historically been bad, unintelligible, un-actionable, and hard to separate from soft errors that don't actually matter. 'Segmentation fault. Core dumped.' 'Non-fatal error detected. Contact support.' 'An error occurred.' 'An illegal operation was performed.' 'Error 92: Insufficient marmalade.' 'Saving this image as a JPG will not preserve the transparency used in the image. Save anyway?' 'Saving as .docx is not recommended because blah-blah-blah never gonna give you up nor let you down.' I can't blame any normal user from either not understanding nor giving a shit about any of these. If we'd given users actionable information from day 1, we'd be in a very different world. Even just 'Error 852: Couldn't reach the network. Check your connection to the internet.' does help those who haven't turned of their brains entirely yet.
    - ben_w 7mo ago
      30 or so years back, one of the Mac magazines had a customer support quote along these lines: "I don't understand, it says 'System Error Type 11', and no matter how many times I type 11, nothing happens!"
      - Telaneo 7mo ago
        Now imagine if that error said 'Error 11: A memory error occurred. Your program may be faulty or misbehaving. Contact your software vendor." That's miles better than what most things provide. That one's a good example of why these things are hard. The user could have been running 5 different programs, any one of which caused this error, and MacOS can't point the finger at anyone. Not to mention that the problem could be MacOS itself, or the user being a dunce who misconfigured something. I'm not sure if that error can occur without 3rd party software being involved, but if it can, then that error message might need to be even more vague, helping the user even less. Not to mention it could just be faulty hardware. A paper manual offering troubleshooting steps for each error would be really helpful. Just 'Error 11. Consult your manual.' and the manual actually telling you what the problem could be is also miles better than what we usually get.
        ben_w 7mo ago
        This was 30 years ago, it was Mac OS classic with co-operative multitasking and zero inter-process memory protection, when the error comes up the only option was "restart" (the computer, not the task).
        Telaneo 7mo ago
        I know.
        TeMPOraL 7mo ago
        > The user could have been running 5 different programs, any one of which caused this error, and MacOS can't point the finger at anyone. It's still an example why it's worth giving your users a fighting chance. MacOS may not know enough to point the finger at anyone, but the user knows what they were doing at that moment, and even if they were not paying attention, they might start now. They'll realize if something is off. Or, after 10th time they get this error, they'll connect the dots and realize it's always happening when application X is running and they try to launch Y. Or maybe sometimes they won't. Maybe they'll form a story and maybe it'll be all bullshit, or maybe good enough. Either way, the important part is, the user retains agency in the process. Giving people information is how they can become self-sufficient users and trust technology more.

tomcam 7mo ago

Amen. I couldn’t have said it better. In general for the 40+ years I’ve been a programmer I have detested the practice of not surfacing diagnostic information to users when technology makes it possible to do so in a clear and unambiguous way.

graemep 7mo ago
Most users tend to ignore diagnostic information. "What did the error message say" "I don't know."
- Telaneo 7mo ago
  This is because error messages have historically been bad, unintelligible, un-actionable, and hard to separate from soft errors that don't actually matter. 'Segmentation fault. Core dumped.' 'Non-fatal error detected. Contact support.' 'An error occurred.' 'An illegal operation was performed.' 'Error 92: Insufficient marmalade.' 'Saving this image as a JPG will not preserve the transparency used in the image. Save anyway?' 'Saving as .docx is not recommended because blah-blah-blah never gonna give you up nor let you down.' I can't blame any normal user from either not understanding nor giving a shit about any of these. If we'd given users actionable information from day 1, we'd be in a very different world. Even just 'Error 852: Couldn't reach the network. Check your connection to the internet.' does help those who haven't turned of their brains entirely yet.
  - ben_w 7mo ago
    30 or so years back, one of the Mac magazines had a customer support quote along these lines: "I don't understand, it says 'System Error Type 11', and no matter how many times I type 11, nothing happens!"
    - Telaneo 7mo ago
      Now imagine if that error said 'Error 11: A memory error occurred. Your program may be faulty or misbehaving. Contact your software vendor." That's miles better than what most things provide. That one's a good example of why these things are hard. The user could have been running 5 different programs, any one of which caused this error, and MacOS can't point the finger at anyone. Not to mention that the problem could be MacOS itself, or the user being a dunce who misconfigured something. I'm not sure if that error can occur without 3rd party software being involved, but if it can, then that error message might need to be even more vague, helping the user even less. Not to mention it could just be faulty hardware. A paper manual offering troubleshooting steps for each error would be really helpful. Just 'Error 11. Consult your manual.' and the manual actually telling you what the problem could be is also miles better than what we usually get.
      - ben_w 7mo ago
        This was 30 years ago, it was Mac OS classic with co-operative multitasking and zero inter-process memory protection, when the error comes up the only option was "restart" (the computer, not the task).
        Telaneo 7mo ago
        I know.
      - TeMPOraL 7mo ago
        > The user could have been running 5 different programs, any one of which caused this error, and MacOS can't point the finger at anyone. It's still an example why it's worth giving your users a fighting chance. MacOS may not know enough to point the finger at anyone, but the user knows what they were doing at that moment, and even if they were not paying attention, they might start now. They'll realize if something is off. Or, after 10th time they get this error, they'll connect the dots and realize it's always happening when application X is running and they try to launch Y. Or maybe sometimes they won't. Maybe they'll form a story and maybe it'll be all bullshit, or maybe good enough. Either way, the important part is, the user retains agency in the process. Giving people information is how they can become self-sufficient users and trust technology more.