Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now, let's find any single company/product that actually is successful by encouraging us to become better versions of ourselves.
In apps: Ten Percent Happier and Headspace? In meatspace: Nike, Adidas?
The Tyranny of the Marginal User
601–610 of 840 posts
Re: The Tyranny of the Marginal User
#602Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I first got online the average user’s IQ was no joke north of 120. Now of course it’s around 100. Someone needs to come up with a pithy term for how a subpopulation’s average value for any attribute approaches the population’s average value for same as the subpopulation’s size approaches that of the population. It’s conceptually a simple, even trivial, notion, but it’s cumbersome to talk about. That’s also why u…
Isn’t that just Eternal September? At least in the internet
The good thing is that things aren't getting worse at least, all the idiots are already online.
Re: The Tyranny of the Marginal User
#603Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find I comment and write much less on mobile than on a computer, because the writing experience on mobile is still very sub-par.
This is very true. And now think of all the people who's only Internet experience is on mobile. They exist entirely within that sub-par writing universe.
Re: The Tyranny of the Marginal User
#604This is a hilarious read but I think the author is too optimistic about the state of humanity. Marl isn't the "marginal" user, Marl is the "average" user. If the average user actually cared about deep and meaningful content, then any A/B test that throws her under the bus in order to please Marl will show bad data, and the proposed change would be killed. Yes, the author tries to hand-wave this away as "product is st…
Re: The Tyranny of the Marginal User
#605Re: The Tyranny of the Marginal User
#606Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I first got online the average user’s IQ was no joke north of 120. Now of course it’s around 100. Someone needs to come up with a pithy term for how a subpopulation’s average value for any attribute approaches the population’s average value for same as the subpopulation’s size approaches that of the population. It’s conceptually a simple, even trivial, notion, but it’s cumbersome to talk about. That’s also why u…
Isn’t that just Eternal September? At least in the internet
Re: The Tyranny of the Marginal User
#607Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn’t that just Eternal September? At least in the internet
Smartphones was the final nail, after that close to 100% of young adults are active online participants. The good thing is that things aren't getting worse at least, all the idiots are already online.
Re: The Tyranny of the Marginal User
#608Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a very good point that I think some commenters here should take to heart. No matter how enlightened we think we are, we're all part of the masses and behave this way at one point or another.
The reason it works is because they've done the research to make it work. It isn't a coincidence DAUs increase. I think it is important to recognize that it can impact you, and take steps to account for that, even if - or especially if - you don't want it to. You are not immune to propaganda, and all that.
Re: The Tyranny of the Marginal User
#609Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Alternatively and more seriously, I do hope to see markets emerge that target power users. I'm not optimistic though. What's crazy to me is that 25+ million people on this Earth can program, and how many of them get to decide the UIs that everyone else uses? I myself, suck at UI programming. But that's because UI programming is labyrinthine, arcane, and generally requires becoming an expert in a number of extremely…
>Why can't I rip apart the UI of an app I use every day and rearrange it the way I want? And I mean, far more than toolbars and rearranging drop down menus. (BTW, remember those? Those were great). IMO there's no reason you can't. Just yesterday I was playing with pavucontrol and thought "There needs to be a GNU Radio like view, where I can drop boxes which represent sound generating/taking programs/devices and draw…