Camels in the Mist

My users are stupider than your users

Xore

Cash Mod for phpBB has been out and about for quite a long time. Sometime in April, i think, Cash Mod will have reached it’s 3 year mark. Thousands of downloads (i don’t have an exact count) and possibly millions of users across several thousand boards and portals have, knowingly or not, used this software. New installations are created on a daily basis.

During the first year, i spent a lot of time supporting users installing it, helping with problems, incompatibilities, etc. There are too many users now, and too many idiots. It might not be obvious to some why I can’t really support it personally anymore, however, when the built in help messages fail to help with the most common user errors, i throw my hands up in despair. This was taken from a sample of chat today, I need to vent. In retrospect, perhaps i was unfair, but on the flip side, while it’s neither my right nor my responsibility to force people to grow a brain, neither is it my duty to help people who lack one.

	#phpbb
<SMRT*>	Ehat does this mean: If you are installing this by hand, copy sql_install.php to your main forum directory and load it in your browser, you must be logged in as admin
	*Screennames have been changed to protect the idiots
<SMRT>	I installed the Cash Mod and it went in correctly, but what does that mean?
<Xore>	the same directory as your index.php, viewforum.php, etc
<SMRT>	OK, I get you now.
<SMRT>	Wait, it said copy, how do I copy it. Do I upload the same file to that area or what?
<Xore>	apply occam’s razor
<SMRT>	What?
<SMRT>	Okay, now what does this mean:
<SMRT>	Error retrieving Cash Mod data
<SMRT>	Please make sure that you have run sql_install.php from your browser
<Xore>	once again, apply occam’s razor
<Xore>	it means exactly frakking what it says
<SMRT>	How do I do that?
<Xore>	1) load up your browser
<Xore>	2) run sql_install.php via the browser
<Xore>	3) … ? …
<SMRT>	Yeah
<Xore>	4) $$Profit$$
<SMRT>	Do I just type sql.install.php after my web URL

	[somewhere else]
*	Xore falls into despair
<Xore>	you know, over the course of cash mod’s lifetime, i’ve made the error messages easier to understand, more informative, more idiot-proof so that your common !@#$tard can handle it. and yet, i’m getting more people needing help with it than ever before
*	Xore loses inhibition and starts abusing users
<NeoThermic>	‘Make something idiot-proof, and they will build a better idiot.”
<GrahamJE>	It’s about like the “Please remove the install and contrib directories” - what does it mean? ^_^

	#phpbb
<Xore>	you know what? i don’t know anymore. honestly, i thought that would have been obvious, but either i’m a complete moron, or people seriously have lost the ability to harness their !@#$%^ IQs
<SMRT>	Do I just type sql.install.php after my Website URL?
<SMRT>	Help!! Please.
<SMRT>	Sorry.
<Xore>	what pisses me off the most, is that i feel like an asshole for calling you a moron
*	Xore goes afk to cool down

	[elsewhere]
<NeoThermic>	Xore: #4 is surprisingly relevant for the cash mod, don’t you think?
<Xore>	…
<Xore>	=)
<Xore>	yes
*	GrahamJE hands Xore a gun
*	MHobbit hands Xore a bazooka
*	Vic hands Xore a rusty spoon
<MHobbit>	Vic wins.
<Vic>	^_^
<Xore>	yea, Vic totally wins

	back in #phpbb
<SMRT>	All right, can anyone else hep me?
<SMRT>	Help me?
<Xore>	you are totally beyond help

</vent>

Camel out

Currently Listening to:
[ De-Loused in the Comatorium ] The Mars Volta - Inertiatic ESP

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 5th, 2006 at 12:53 pm by Xore and is filed under All, phpBB, Technology, Life, Airtime in Rantspace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

11 Responses to “My users are stupider than your users”

1. Andrew Says:
   March 5th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
   

   Unfortunately, I (and all of the other phpBB team members I’m sure ) know the feeling.

   I think what we need is our own sort of Darwin awards. (Eh? Not really, I guess.)

2. Jonathan Stanley Says:
   March 5th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
   

   /me gets Bertiezilla to the ready… “Smiter of Nubfidels™”.

3. Wizard James Says:
   March 6th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
   

   Well.. last year i would of laughed at this.. but it happens far to much to be funny anymore.

   If a user cant read and do simple rules.. they shouldnt even look at a computer. Maybe there should be a test done to get on some servers…

   But its true.. “We keep making more idiot-proof software, but the world just makes more idiots” -irc if i remember..

4. smithy_dll Says:
   March 8th, 2006 at 1:30 am
   

   I thought basic computer skills were taught in primary school.

   There are too many people without the skills or know-how trying to run a website.

   In the past with stores this would not have happened because they wouldn’t know how to raise capital, but with free hosting (and/or cheap), it’s not only benefiting those with know how, giving the idiots new ways to be idiots.

   The further I get into my engineering course, the more ‘elitist’ I seem to become in my professional engineering aptitude towards doing things right, but then again, I suppose doing things right isn’t all bad

5. Andrew Says:
   March 8th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
   

   “I thought basic computer skills were taught in primary school.”

   Common sense, on the other hand, isn’t.

6. Xore Says:
   March 8th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
   

   “I thought basic computer skills were taught in primary school.”

   What primary school did you go to? You must have have had an awesome primary school… ours just taught us maths and gym and english and… stuff… that i can’t remember anymore because it’s been way too long.

   But not computer skills.

   =(

7. Andrew Says:
   March 9th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
   

   Actually, some very, very rudimentary computer skills are taught in elementary schools in the US. Basic computing and computer applications skills are taught in middle school.

   You’ll find that the curriculum taught can actually be well-rounded. However, some people choose not to actually pay attention to class, but that’s another story.

8. Jon Says:
   March 10th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
   

   Make something so an idiot can use it, and only idiots will use it. (I don’t know how much truth there is in that, don’t take it personally. It isn’t directed at the cash mod.)

   I like stroking rusty spoons.

9. Vincent Says:
   March 12th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
   

   A simple “yes” would’ve done

   Maybe I need to rethink my planned hop in the open source world

10. Jacky Says:
    March 13th, 2006 at 2:33 am
    

    Actually the term SMRT is used for the train transport here in Singapore.

    Xore, I understand that feeling.

    I am in the same situation as yours. I am in #irchelp in another network which I frequent, and there are sometimes people which either have their common sense totally used up or born with no common sense at all. Some even have -100 IQ level.

    Actually the way these idiots are sometimes make me laugh.

11. Tony Boyd Says:
    March 17th, 2006 at 11:35 am
    

    I’ve published about 20 mods myself, none as successful as the Cash mod, but many with a few thousand people using them. And while I have my fair share of idiots, they rarely bother me. Why? Because I have no problem telling them, “I think this project isn’t right for you.” If they persist, I tell them, “I think this product is too technical for you. Maybe you should hire someone from guru.com or something.” I don’t need to tell them they’re morons, but I don’t answer their questions, either. I send them away.

    If you refuse to accept a stupid userbase, the stupid userbase will look elsewhere. Don’t let them get to you. It’s your product, you choose who you’re willing to support.