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Re: Taking advantage of "reflexive" responses in users
Subject:Re: Taking advantage of "reflexive" responses in users From:"Elliott C. Evans" <eeyore+ -at- cmu -dot- edu> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 04 Oct 2000 17:44:50 -0400
Hart, Geoff wrote:
> So the techwr-l tie-in: A small voice is telling me we could use this kind
> of predictable response in technical communication, but I'm drawing a blank
> right now. Suggestions anyone?
I'm more interested in thwarting such automatic responses. For instance,
the program "WinZip" displays a dialog box (nag) every time you start its
unregistered version. This dialog displays a shareware notice and has
three buttons: "I Agree", "Quit", and "Ordering Information". Each time
you start up the program, "Quit" and "I Agree" switch back and forth, so
you can't automatically pick "I Agree" and ignore the dialog.
Many people will choose "OK" in any dialog box that contains that button,
usually without even reading the dialog. "Taking advantage" of this response
is probably a Dark Side practice, but thwarting it in some way to make
people pay more attention to your message is possibly good.
--
Elliott C. "Eeyore" Evans eeyore+ -at- cmu -dot- edu
