Why Specs Matter
Dave Into Mark — “Most developers are morons, and the rest are assholes. I have at various times counted myself in both groups, so I can say this with the utmost confidence.”
Sometimes using foul language makes sense, and sometimes it does not. Do you think using “assholes” in this posting adds value? Does it bother you? Mark can use any language that he wants, afterall, it is his personal web site. But, I question the value of using “asshole” in this posting.
August 24th, 2004 at 11:57 am
….language like this tells me more about the writer than the topic.
August 24th, 2004 at 1:03 pm
In this context the language is completely appropriate. Develoeprs will know exactly what he means and read the appropriate things into his words. If the goal is to get a message across to developers, speaking in common developer usage is the way to go. The message comes across much more clearly than if “asshole” had been replaced by ‘nit-picker’, though I suppose he could have gotten most of the impact by using adjectives (anal and moronic) instead of nouns…
August 25th, 2004 at 8:30 pm
The profanity, though relatively mild by today’s standards, got my attention and added weight to what he was saying. Right away I knew “the gloves are off.” The problem with playing the “profanity card” is that you must be prepared to have it redirected at you. Some people aren’t prepared and get defensive.
John
P.S. What happened to the login block on the homepage? Bad usability to have to click a few times just to login.
August 26th, 2004 at 5:55 pm
I think the use of profanity in this case (and as usually is the case), is a way to bully the reader into agreeing with him. I think it’s akin to someone yelling at you in your face and daring you not to agree.
The tendency is to back-off and acquiesce rather than get into an argument. I don’t think profanity adds weight to any argument - though it can intimidate.
August 27th, 2004 at 1:14 am
johnb5, thanks for asking. I understand the issue. The problem is that I got tired of people saying that they couldn’t comment. So, I opened it up to everyone. At the same time, if you do that, it makes it tough to keep allowing users to subscribe. So, I pretty much pulled the whole log in / subscription thing. Not what I wanted, but given my limited skills with PostNuke, it was was I decided.
When will my pain end? When will I find the perfect content management system (CMS)?
August 27th, 2004 at 5:10 pm
Interesting. I didn’t read it that way at all but I see your point. So what you’re really saying is that it’s a stronger method of persuasion. I’ll have to remember that. If the listener doesn’t feel strongly enough about his/her opinion to argue against a person using a smattering of profanity, then that person “wins” (albeit a hollow victory since no real opposition was presented).
Of course, reactions are totally subjective, and while your tendency might be to back down I felt the need to examine the argument more carefully. But I also took it with a grain of salt and saw the humor in it. Perhaps because I was reminded of Rick Moranis’ line in “Spaceballs,” “I knew it, I’m surrounded by assholes.”
August 27th, 2004 at 5:29 pm
I don’t think there’s any such thing as a perfect CMS. Certainly not one for all situations. The only way to get close is to roll your own for each and every project, tailoring it to that project’s specific needs.
Perhaps you can turn the login block back on and add a disclaimer that users don’t need an account to use the site. Maybe mention some of the benefits of creating an account, like commenting non-anonymously and selecting their own theme. That’s pretty much what I tell people about my personal PostNuke site (johnbedard.com), though I should update my login block text to say they don’t need an account. Right now it just mentions some benefits.
I have a whopping 37 users, most of whom ever comment on articles (My stats say I’ve got 7 comments, but only remember one or two comments in more than a year), though one does send the occasional private message. I have no idea who the majority of them are because they never fill out their profiles.
But I don’t really care if they comment or not. It’s not hurting anything. With PostNuke I’ve learned to take the good with the bad.
I also use Post Nuke for the company intranet but there I require them to login to do anything but read. There we need the accountability.
August 27th, 2004 at 5:30 pm
So does not signing your posts. :)
August 30th, 2004 at 7:41 pm
Actually, getting back to his characterization of developers as assholes, I disagree. I’ve worked with them for about 17 years and by and large, I think they are conscientious workers trying to get a product finished to the best of their ability.
They may not always take usability issues to heart and they may make mistakes and forget to review the latest UI spec, but it’s my job to convince them otherwise and to review their work to see if it is up to spec.
Maybe his calling them ‘assholes’ is a case of ‘it takes one to know one’.
March 26th, 2005 at 10:37 pm
I made love to her like a man, although I was still made up as a woman Suipack Here I was almost 40 Pyramid21 Here I was almost 40 Cdxref Here I was almost 40 Image Downloader Here I was almost 40 Sharedaemon P2p Client I leaned down and kissed her forehead, Or get in bed naked with them