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0 pointsChrisMarshallNY1y ago0 comments

> Please remember that HN is not a cross section of the general public.

Yup. I need to constantly keep that in mind, when I’m designing my software.

Very often, the fact that I like it, is a negative.

0 comments

What this forum needs is for its members to volunteer their time at their local library doing tech support. It’d be a rude awakening for a lot of folks.

appplication1y ago

I can’t begin to count how many hours I’ve spent trying to help my mom untangle passwords for all of her accounts. I can’t help but laugh at the indignance over an approach that isn’t fully decentralized/anonymized/self-hostable/brushes-your-teeth-and-makes-you-toast/whatever.

I don’t need idealism. I need my mom to be able to figure out how to log into her bank without having to call me every time. The more that’s tied to a single ecosystem the better.

shiroiushi1y ago

My mother actually writes them all down in a booklet. It's very old-fashioned, but it does work for her.

satvikpendem1y ago

> Very often, the fact that I like it, is a negative.

Incredible insight. Too often I'm building something and it rises in complexity precisely due to me wanting extra features that might be very niche and technical in nature, so I too must remember to not bloat the product and make it much more streamlined.

kcplate1y ago

SWEs build for maximum tinkerability. General users just want the software to work without having to tinker with it at all.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse