users 3

[fumei]

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

 

[AnotherHiggins]

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

for the use of "emesis".

SICKO ->

I really like the term that has evolved during this thread that hasn't yet been pointed out. That is, ...staff (with the ellipsis included). It should always be read with a slight pause before saying "staff".

Examples of ...staff being used:
-If ...staff runs into any trouble, ...staff should call the help desk.
-Blah blah blah, end of sentence. ...Staff* should press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del]...

The funny thing is that "user" seems to be getting the boot because it has picked up some negative connotations over the years. But any term your organization picks to refer to users will suffer the same fate. Some snarky IT person (or people) will eventually, invariably, come to use whatever term is selected as a synonym for "idiot".

*Should the period be capitalized at the beginning of a sentence? If so, I suppose it would become ">..staff".

[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.

 

[Trevoke]

Do you really think that manglement picked up on that?

"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"

 

[SantaMufasa]

...anykeyans...looks oddly like a last name.

Actually, I believe that instead, it looks oddly like a first name, as in "Anykeyans Skywalker", right?

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]

 

[mikeydidit]

anotherhiggins

The ID10T errors are already there.... They mess up our "network devices" .

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something."
(Plato)

 

[fumei]

Personally, if I have control of the documentation, I do NOT use users. It all depends on the audience - as all decent writing should. There are ways of language that do not require having to use "user(s)".

Nevertheless, and perhaps unfortunately, we live in a somewhat politically correct world. Some of these are not really PC, but, hmmmmmm, fair.

For example, all our documentation can no longer use "Click". We have quite a number of visually impaired staff (uh, users) and they use the keyboard. We have software (Dragon Naturally Speaking), but in terms of language, the official term is "Select".

So:

"When all fields are completed, click OK."

must now be:

"When all fields are completed, select OK."

Which to a keyboard person generally means, press the Enter key. This is because, generally, dialogs will move to the OK button. This, with speaking software will speak..."OK".

The irony of this - which drives me nuts - is that most people will lift their hands off the keyboard (which they have been using to enter stuff into fields), move over to the mouse, move the mouse to the OK button and "click" it. I have tried, again and again, to tell people they do not have to do this. Your hands are on the keyboard...the focus is now ON the OK button...press Enter.

Oh well.

What can you expect from a SICKO?

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[donbott]

How about mouseterbaters?

DonBott

 

[Trevoke]

Or you could have the LFH, which really is LUSERS FROM HELL, but which could be explained to manglement as Limitless Fruitful Help.

"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"

 

[sleipnir214]

I once read some documentation which used the word gum everywhere, by context, I would have used the word user. I asked the author about the word, and he tol me it should be written G.U.M., an initialism for "Great Unwashed Masses".

That might be useful here.



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[fumei]

donbott.....ah, let me think about that one....no.

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[SilentAiche]

KeyBoard of Directors?

Key Stone Comps?

Don Key Hoty?

ThaiPissed (only funny in sum uriNations)

QWERTY Eye for the POINTY Guy

[gray]BTW: mouseterbaters don't excel with softwhere.[/gray]


er, Bob


[blue]_______________________________________________________
"Although many figures are strange, prime numbers are truly odd."[/blue]

 

[stubnski]

How about Member, or Employee?
When asked a member of what, reply - member of people who (Insert words).

Stubnski

 

[PaulTEG]

a stakeholder ...

Paul
------------------------------------
Spend an hour a week on CPAN, helps cure all known programming ailments ;-)

 

[nicksims]

Now if you use "dudes," would the pc crowd require "dudettes?"

 

[jrbarnett]

<Serious hat on for a moment>
Four years ago, I had an interview for a post in which i used the term "Users" to describe all staff and students (it was in the academic sector). In post interview feedback later on, I discovered that the use of this term was the reason I didn't get the job, for exactly the reason that flapeyre mentions.

I now use the terms "Staff" and "Students" in my documents and emails even though there are both staff and students without network logins, depending upon their role and course of study.
</serious hat off>

If an everyone email goes around, it is normally written along the lines of:

"Everybody is reminded that <systems/areas affected> will be unavailable between <start> and <finish> due to essential maintenance work."

John

 

[flapeyre]

<aside>
You know, the companies that sell new cars are still called "dealers", and I seriously doubt they will change anytime soon for the PC crowd (the PC'ers are not forced to walk, ride bikes, or take public transportation). Car dealers are issued special license plates with the word "DEALER" embossed on the bottom (in Louisiana, anyway), for use by the sales force. There is no misunderstanding.

The PC crowd is unable or unwilling to grasp the simple notion of grammatical context. It's a pity that some corporate types are getting that way now.

Another one that didn't catch on: some child psychologist or something tried to discourage the use of "kid" to mean child. Reason: you are equating childern to goats (sheesh!)
</aside>

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

 

[Sympology]

Customers? Yuk, that implies they have a choice in the matter....

And Members......

"Hi you've a problem with a new member?" Could go down well in a Doctors surgery....

How about useless, bone idle moron?

"Have you actually bothered to XYZ?"

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[rjoubert]

Business Engineers...
Business Process Owners...
Business Process Engineers...
Subject Matter Experts...this one would probably give them a warm fuzzy.

 

[nicksims]

I'm throwing a wrench in the pc topic here- although I've already been a part of it. I'm not so sure it is a "pc" thing here.

I think people don't like being lumped into the big group, even though they know they are part of a big group. "User" is a simple, eficient, descriptive word choice that has been commonly used for a long time. People, or users, are just bored with it. Many people, while they claim to not depend on or prefer a title, would rather have some distinction to what they do. "User," or any other similar term, will eventually just irritate the group anyway.

Of course I was thinking about this and then came across John's post above re: not getting the job. John- you are simply lucky to have not worked there. I'm not sure which is worse- working for a place that didn't hire you for they didn't have the ability to simply ask you to use a different phrase, or that they were actually so ridiculous to not hire someone based on this at all. There are some deep-rooted problems there.

Fumei, good luck. I don't envy you attempting to appease a large group.

Nick

 

[Sympology]

I'll stop calling them users when they no longer have "User Name" in the password dialog boxes.....

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[jsaxe]

Worker Unit (much beloved by a former associate)

Furniture (cf. Soylent Green, p'raps very un-pc)

Skin Jobs (cf. Blade Runner, is there a trend here?)

mehums (i.e., "mere humans", another reference, but I forget where ...Illuminatus?)

Enough for now.

jsaxe





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