Re: Stupid idea of the day

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From: Carey Lening (carey@tstonramp.com)
Date: Fri May 12 2000 - 10:28:18 PDT


First off -- let me explain a few things. I think Rohit is generous in his interpretation of the 97% rule. In my view, 99% of the population is incompetent and it isn't getting any better -- Especially in Southern California.

Real Life Example: Recently I was riding my bike to class, and around UCI, they have been tearing up bits and pieces of the road here. I was silly and tried to jump the embankment. Subsequently, gravity informed me that this wasn't allowed and I flew forward and kissed pavement. Yummy. Now, by your logic, I should be able to blame the bike manufacturer, because most users EXPECT their bikes to handle small things (this was a very small opening in the road) without them falling off.. But see, no. That just doesn't work. I made the decision to jump the thing, and subsequently, the pavement became my friend that day. I see no difference from this, than the I love you worm that was infesting mail clients. Just as I have the choice to jump or not to jump, so does the user have the choice to open or not to open their email. I have even less respect for those who KNEW the virus was around, but still opened the messages.

To blame someone else gets really flipping old and tends to take freedoms away (as a general rule), as the institution, in its vain attempt to correct the problem reduces the choices and possibilities to the lowest common denominator, so people won't shoot themselves. Sometimes that makes sense, and other times, I'm forced to just shake my head in disbelief and wonder why. I have this theory, that as we simplify and error-proof everything for everyone -- thereby taking the common sense mechanism out of the picture, the stupid people live longer, and we all as a general populous become much less intelligent.

We All Suffer.

Blame the user? Damn right I would. Just like I blamed myself when I got CIH again:)

At 11:58 PM 5/11/00 -0400, you wrote:

>In a message dated 5/11/00 10:51:10 PM, carey@tstonramp.com writes:
>
><< Blame
>Microsoft, blame Norton, Blame your mother, blame the dog, etc. No one
>really stops to think, "hey, stupid users here" >>
>
>I'm sorry--but a man should be able to open his mail without getting his
>hands blown off, as Prof Gelantner would agree, I am sure. Blame the stupid
>users? No way.
>
>Tom


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