Re: The technologically challenged (was - Re: Tech writers still necessary, but performing poorly)

[John Garison <john -at- garisons -dot- com>]

Jay Leno used to talk about his parents and their $1200 digital clock 
that continuously flashed 12:00 ...

There are a couple of things at work here, IMHO.

First there are the companies who are in a mad dash to add more features 
so that the product reviews will say they have more features than the 
competition. Note that their customers, in many cases, don't 
particularly want these features, but at the stage of the market their 
products are in, they feel they need to one-up their competitors. I 
recently saw an ad for a mobile phone called a Jitterbug. It was being 
marketed at senior citizens because 1) it had large numbers so that the 
'dial' was easy to use and 2) all it did was make phone calls. No 
camera. No fancy ring tones, no music, no games. Just a phone. And they 
were charging - and getting -  a premium price for an essentially 
stripped down model.

Second are the corporate lawyers who mandate that every time the writer 
wants to refer to "the phone" they have to say "the Model 2504XC Digital 
Handheld Portable Wireless Communications Device." That sure as heck 
makes it easy to understand, especially the fourth or fifth time they 
use this reference in the same paragraph printed in a 1.5 inch column in 
7 point type. Not counting the (R) and (TM) symbols that only enhance 
clarity and specificity.

And the lawyers aren't done. They ensure that every single possible and 
bizarre warning is included to ensure that someone doesn't try to plug 
it into something it won't fit or expose it to something with which is 
physically incompatible, like I'm about to try and make an underwater 
phone call or plug my cell phone directly into a high-voltage 
transmission line. The one I loved the most: A lawn mower brochure 
showing a picture with the diagonal line through it indicating that you 
shouldn't lift up the running mower and try to use it to trim your hedge.

And finally there are the suits who intentionally remove anything that 
might happen to be left that would directly help someone figure out how 
to use the device. I once worked someplace that refused to let me say 
something like "If you want to do X, follow these steps" because there 
was more than one way to do X and they couldn't be sure that the way I 
described would be the most optimal way for everyone to do X so rather 
than tell 95% of the people who wanted to do X the easiest way how, I 
had to let them figure it out on their own so as not to possibly 
slightly mislead the 5% of the audience who could actually figure it out 
on  their own.

Can you tell you've hit a nerve yet?

The bottom line is that companies figure out that they need to include 
every inconceivable warning so as not to be liable for some idiot's 
idiocy, they want to offend no one, and don't care about informing 
anyone because by the time the consumer reads the flippin' manual, the 
company already has their money.

My 2¢,


John Garison
Candidate for STC Region 1 Director





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