Let's be helpful...WAS Re: [Sigia-l] web writing for kids

[Donna Maurer]

I could not agree more.

I spoke with a bunch of newer IAs at Summit recently, and many mentioned to me
that they were far too frightened to ask questions here for fear of being
bitten or sent to search the archives. 

Come on - as IAs we should know what's hard about searching the archives. It
relies on you phrasing a question using the exact same language as the
previous question or answer. Duh! When you are new and don't know the
language, you can't search the archives because you don't know how to phrase
it. And you certainly can't browse the archives - why would anyone browse 4
years of archives when they can simply ask a list of experienced people...

We've got to stop it! This could be a fabulous resource, and frightening
people is not the way to help anyone.

I don't really care if I answer the same question 15 times - if it helps
someone for me to share my experience, it can only benefit all... If anyone
doesn't want to answer the same question 15 times, just don't!

Donna (who has just broken her own rule by being grumpy!)


On Mon, 08 Mar 2004 21:26:41 -0800, George Olsen wrote
> Or maybe I've gotten tired of reasonable requests for help being constantly
> greeted with "RTF archives."
> 
> Yeah there's gonna be repetition in discussions over time. Deal with 
> it. Once upon time, what made this list valuable was professionals 
> helping each other, even with questions that had been asked 
> previously or with "newbie" questions.
> 
> Instead of Usenet rudeness, why not try helping someone with one 
> these questions sometime. The list would be a better place for it.
> 
> Katherine: I don't have any specific advice, because I haven't 
> worked on that specific problem. For what it's worth, NNG has a 
> report that may be useful http://www.nngroup.com/reports/kids/ You 
> may also find some useful info by searching on "children user interface."
> 
> Best thing I can recommend is getting some actual kids in and ask 
> them to describe things to you. While you may not use their literal 
> descriptions, it'll probably give you some useful insights.
> 
> George
>