NoelC Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 One thing I like to do is help people out with technical problems on forums. It keeps my mind sharp to solve problems, as well as taking me to places I might not go on my own, so I learn new things. Trouble is, I'm working at the "paragaraph" level, and many of the people I'm helping seem to only be able to handle "text message" communication. As an example, a person might have a problem that can be solved two ways, so I tell them about the first way in plain, clear sentences, then I double space and write something like "if that fails, the nuclear option is to reset all your preferences as follows...". They take the nuclear option and say "too bad now I have to recover all my preferences". They clearly missed/forgot the first paragraph entirely. I'm not writing tl;dr tomes, just a few paragraphs, straight and to the point. Not like real technical writing, engineering specification. But even that's too much for many people. I've had this happen at least a dozen times this week! It's not really a new phenomenon, but it's getting worse. Shockingly worse! The next generation is in for a sucky time indeed if all the adults can focus on is only half a sentence at a time. -Noel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dencorso Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 I sure know what you're talking about. Granted, sometimes I do write tl;dr replies. But, in any case, nowadays, whenever it dawns on me the one I'm posting to isn't able to read beyond the second line, I give up helping him/her as politely as possible, as fast as I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelC Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 True. Someone once said, "life's too short". Thanks for reading my rant. -Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponch Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Don't forget the other side: people who don't understand this"do 1), if it doesn't work, do 2)"They come back with "I've done 1) but it still doesn't work, what now ?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelC Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 Yes, that's a good example. I always work to understand my audience and I try to put things in terms people can understand, but there's a minimum level of communication needed to deal with some things! Beyond basic attention span issues, a further difficulty is that more and more people seem to want to make their problems someone else's and have their hands held. I suppose that's to be expected, but reminding them that their problems ARE theirs and not someone else's responsibility to solve often nets surprisingly negative responses. I suppose the ones who have some cognitive ability and do assume responsibility aren't asking for help in the first place in this world of abundant information and Google. -Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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