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fumei

fumei

Technical User
Oct 23, 2002
9,349
CA
Hi gang.

Can't think of a better place to toss this out.

I have been asked to come up with a better term than "users".

This is a rather old issue really. However, apparently...ahem..."staff"...really hate it when they see "user" or "users" in documentation.

Within the tech community (application developers, network people etc), no doubt we will still use "users". Simply because that is what they are.

However, I am open to any and all suggestions for a different term when we are distributing stuff to, hmmmm, staff.

Of course, context is important. Personally, I think "all staff" is perfectly acceptable when it is communication directed to all staff. Like:

"All staff are reminded that downloading programs from the Internet is not permitted."

Ideas? What can we use instead of "users"?

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture
 
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Why? Are they thinking that "users" implies that they are drug addicts?

PC gone amok.

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 
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OK, now I'm off the soapbox.

I created a file called SHUSR (yes, the "USR" means "user"). As you might guess, it's a file of our users. I personally have no problem with "user". It carries no neagative connotation to me (or anybody else in my organization).

"Staff" doesn't work because you can be a "staff member" without doing anything on a computer (getting rarer and rarer, I know, but still possible). Plus, "staff" alone is plural; for the singular, you'd need the more clumsy "staff member".


Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 
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flapeyre - Actually, yes, I think that is exactly what some people feel uncomfortable about with "users". PC gone amok...no disagreement here.

Dagon - "technicians" would not apply. I am talking about people who could be:

financial clerks (or clarks if you prefer)
data entry people
secretaries
Human Resources people
program agents - programs as in, hmmm, initiatives, for example staff who process unemployment claims dur to maternity

In other words, a full range of work activities, including non-technical positions. The point being, ALL staff use our computer systems - be it Office products, or in-house applications (we have 1200 of those....). So there is a lot of documentation that can go out.

This is not a big huge deal. However, I am curious to see if someone can come up with something that may be useful.

Funny suggestions are welcome as well. What the hell, why not? Really good ones I will pass on.

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture
 
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When I went out to m-w.com and entered "user" in the Thesaurus, it came back with "doper"...certainly fits IT our environment.

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]
 
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Suggestions, in no particular order..

luser
people
dudes
workers
pioslaves
utilizers (it's the same as user, but manglement likes long words).

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"
 
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Dances with Keyboards?
Operator (or OP for short)?
Graphic User Interface User (or GUIU for short)?
Computer Interactor (or CI for short)?
Humans / people / folks / y'all?
Entity Between Chair and Keyboard (or EBCAK for short)*?

*I blatantly stole this from the popular diagnostic term PEBCAK - Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard.

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]

Help us help you. Please read FAQ181-2886 before posting.
 
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How about "Muppets?"

Yup, bad day.....

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004
 
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Operators
Operatives
Computer Operators > Computerators > CompOps
Computerites
Compuphiles
Clients
Customers
Patrons


[Cheers]
 
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If management has some sort of aversion to the term, "users", then of the suggestions so far, "operator(s)" seems to be most precise, but it come across as a bit stuffy or stilted.

And to the term EBCAK, isn't that the term for the "user emesis" that results from really poorly designed software?

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]
 
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Well, we also have a very informal series of documents that go out to...users, called "Getting The Most Out Of xxxx"

Getting The Most Out Of Outlook
Getting The Most Out Of Microsoft Office - General Topics
Getting The Most Out Of Microsoft Office - Advanced Topics
Getting The Most Out Of Your Keyboard
Getting The Most Out Of E-Learning

etc etc.

These are written in a conversational tone. They about 7 pages (14 - 15 pages in total, as we must, by law, publish in English and french). They are desk drops to all...staff. I will suggest that y'all get into them.

"So, y'all need to know how to use tables in Word? Well, here how you can start...."

I like it.




Gerry
My paintings and sculpture
 
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anotherhiggins,

I like your Computer Interactor (CI).

You can put CI everywhere in the documentation with a footnote on the first page only. Would they like it, though?

Gerry,

I guess, another way is to send out e-mail survey to all ... staff, on how they would like to be called in the documentation; give them some multiple choice, with an option "Other" and a few lines to explain what they mean if they chose it. Give them a deadline to fill it out.
 
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anykeys" Because users have to hit the any key too often for our own good ?

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"
 
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I, personally, like a combination of the above suggestions: System Interactor / Computer Keyboard Operator -- SICKO.

As with Stella's assessment: "You can put SICKO everywhere in the documentation with a footnote on the first page only...And the readers would love it.

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I can provide you with low-cost, remote Database Administration services: see our website and contact me via www.dasages.com]
 
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Stella, anykeyers or anykeyans, though the latter looks oddly like a last name. :)

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"
 
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Where I work, this happened a couple of years back, and we were told to speak about the business. Don't forget, the computer system is there for their benefit.

Consider the circumstances where you yourself would count as a 'user' - a train, aircraft or bus, a restaurant, cinema etc. In such circumstance, you'd insist the the main point of it is the needs of people like you.

------------------------------
An old man [tiger] who lives in the UK
 
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