Avoiding easy

If a feature or product were legitimately easy the user would not be writing in to support about how stuck they are. Sure, some percentage of users will find questions to ask about any interface. But do you want to start the conversation by assuming the user falls into that percentage? You venture to learn much more if you assume the software is wrong, not the user.
— Andrew Spittle, “Avoiding Easy”

This post by Andrew on avoiding the word “easy” in support is golden, but perhaps predictably, this is the part that stood out when I read it. If your user is confused, chances are, the software is wrong. No bugs necessary.

Required reading is what Andrew linked to in this paragraph: Joe Flood’s blog post about a comment Matt Mullenweg made at WordPress DC last summer, “The software is wrong, not the people.”

Jon Stewart, Ron Paul, and WordPress

Did you know that before you could write crazy shit on Tumblr and WordPress, people had to type their crazy shit up on what was called paper — and distribute it by hand, reaching the few paranoid conspiracists within walking distance.
— Jon Stewart

That was The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart on Tuesday night, referring to Ron Paul’s decades-old newsletters. Just another way to describe democratizing publishing.

Bonus: Ron Paul’s 2012 website runs WordPress. And he’s not the only one.

Double Bonus: Comedy Central’s Indecision site is WordPress too. (I knew thedailyshow.com wasn’t, but it didn’t take long to find one that was.)

Updated with the clip:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart