Idiot Audience

[Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- FS -dot- COM -dot- AU>]

I laid bricks for the first time last weekend. I know that you pour
the dry mortar into a wheelbarrow then add water and stir, but how
much water?

The instructions on the bag said something like "Add water and mix
until the correct consistency is achieved."

Well thanks. If I knew what the correct consistency was I wouldn't
have needed to read the instructions.

Who's the idiot? Me, or the person who aimed the instructions at people
who didn't need the instructions? I don't don't think I'm an idiot. I
think I'm a person who hadn't laid bricks before. (You of course are
free to form your own opinion.)

To emphasise the point: the audience for the manual is probably not
the same as the ausience for the product. The audience for the manuals
is the people who used the product and had some problem or question
they couldn't solve by themselves.

Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield                "Fun, fun, fun
Functional Software Pty Ltd     In the sun, sun, sun. . ."
mailto:slb -at- fs -dot- com -dot- au

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