How to DOS a developer

#1

Post by emarcotte » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 11:20 AM UTC

How to DOS a developer
who-t.blogspot.com

Re: How to DOS a developer

#2

Post by jrockway » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 12:28 PM UTC

This DOS is easy to fix. Just ignore the person.

I find the following things quite easy to do: not replying to random emails, ignoring stuff on irc.

Re: How to DOS a developer

#3

Post by goodside » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 1:00 PM UTC

"Be verbose. As verbose you can be. If you can say something in one sentence or three paragraphs (with three overlapping or identical examples), choose the latter. Searching for signal in lots of noise is a favourite pasttime of many developers."

Pot, kettle, black, etc.

Re: How to DOS a developer

#4

Post by wladimir » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 1:03 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #2

This DOS is easy to fix. Just ignore the person. I find the following things quite easy to do: not replying to random emails, ignoring stuff on irc.

Even better solution: ask to be paid for (non developer-to-developer) support. The best way to prevent DOS is to have a price. Not that it makes interacting with such jerks fun, but at least you get something in return.

Re: How to DOS a developer

#5

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 1:14 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: How to DOS a developer

#6

Post by kgtm » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 1:37 PM UTC

"How to Disk Operating System a developer?"

Oh come on. It's DoS. Pretty please? Not respecting capitalization is definitely a way to DoS a developer...

Re: How to DOS a developer

#7

Post by arkitaip » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 1:46 PM UTC

goodside wrote: post #3

"Be verbose. As verbose you can be. If you can say something in one sentence or three paragraphs (with three overlapping or identical examples), choose the latter. Searching for signal in lots of noise is a favourite pasttime of many developers." Pot, kettle, black, etc.

I think he was making an example.

Re: How to DOS a developer

#8

Post by sambeau » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 1:47 PM UTC

This is an example of my least-favourite type of HN story: "Devs are clever; users are stupid". While it is not untrue it misses the underlying problem: Devs are generally bad communicators and have an unrealistic assumption about the language and technical understanding of their users which they translate into "users are stupid".

To get a feel for how this feels consider the last time you took a car to be fixed and had to talk to the mechanic, or the first time you took clothes to be dry-cleaned. It feels belittling, doesn't it?

Re: How to DOS a developer

#9

Post by mathnode » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 2:04 PM UTC

It's similiar to my dating tactic: "Want to go for a drink with me?" "Want to go for a drink with me?" "Want to go for a drink with me?" "Want to go for a drink with me?" "Want to go for a drink with me?" "Want to go for a drink with me?" "FINE YES!"

Re: How to DOS a developer

#10

Post by stcredzero » Fri, Mar 04, 2011, 2:06 PM UTC

sambeau wrote: post #8

This is an example of my least-favourite type of HN story: "Devs are clever; users are stupid". While it is not untrue it misses the underlying problem: Devs are generally bad communicators and have an unrealistic assumption about the language and technical understanding of their users which they translate into "users are stupid". To get a feel for how this feels consider the last time you took a car to be fixed and…

This is an example of my least-favourite type of HN story: "Devs are clever; users are stupid".

Do two things: Comprehend these stories as a description of the impedance mismatch. Design your systems with this data in mind.

To get a feel for how this feels consider the last time you took a car to be fixed and had to talk to the mechanic, or the first time you took clothes to be dry-cleaned. It feels belittling, doesn't it?

Amazing how many people and institutions encounter the mismatch and do nothing about it. It sucks. It sucks = Pain. Pain = opportunity.