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Posts: 336 | Thanked: 610 times | Joined on Apr 2008 @ France
#33
Originally Posted by geneven View Post
My point with regard to percentages is this: Say a minority of people use a word processor for creating mailing labels. One could do a poll that says, "how many of you use this word processor for mailing labels" and get only 20% who use them. But that is not an argument for removing the mailing label feature from the word processor.

The argument was stated that the decision was made because users voted against the feature. The majority has spoken, was the basic claim.

But what the majority thinks is not relevant.
You know, when a metaphor fails to deliver the intended message, it's usually a good thing to scrap and try again. Sticking to the same metaphor regardless of its impact only displays how little you understand the subject yourself.

But for the fun of, I'll try to explain to you, using your own metaphor what you fail to understand.

So, let's say that in an alternative universe, the developers of a word processor (let's call it ClosedOffice.org) implemented a feature for themselves in version alpha 8, because it was very handy at the time. The users of the software, because they were so handy and so brilliant, discovered the feature, and started using it, publicising it, blogging about it.

The problem, is that the feature to print mailing labels wasn't documented, as it had never been an official feature. It wasn't very polished, and because it was a bit hidden, most users were very intrigued by it, because they thought they'd discovered a way to be cooler than school.

As the years went by, the developers of ClosedOffice.org were a bit amused by the whole thing, and nobody saw any harm... Until version beta 800 and 810 of ClosedOffice.org, when suddenly a lot of people were complaining that when they were using the feature, they started receiving a lot of junk mail due to the mailing labels getting lost everywhere. Another drawback was that after activating the feature, anyone could print off that user's printer... The users complained, and moaned, and were just very difficult.

The developers felt very much annoyed, how could anyone blame them for using a feature which was clearly not intended for the public at large? How could they prevent people from making those mistakes again?

So they ran a vote, they asked users what the best solution was. Now remember, this is ClosedOffice.org, and really, they didn't have to do this. They could've just said "Listen guys, you're idiots, we're removing it to protect you". But no, they still asked, and listened what the community had to say.

A bit after the release of ClosedOffice.org 900, the feature was removed, and all was well... for about 38 seconds. People started yelling, moaning and being difficult again...

The users were childishly screaming: "But why did you remove my feature? It made me feel warm inside". The developers replied "But we didn't remove it! We just made it safe and moved its location!"

But we all know how it ends... Even in a parallel universe, users only think about themselves... They sprout stupidities like "what the majority thinks is not relevant"... True, except when it is.
 

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