When Do You Read the Instructions?

An anonymous reader asks: "I originally submitted this as a poll, but the answers I'm guessing, were way too long. However, I would like to ask the crowd at Slashdot: When do you read the instructions?" "So when do you reach for that instruction booklet? Do you:

• ...research on the internet, in magazines and also pestering friends who own one, so you're an expert before buying said item?
  
  
• ...carefully read the box and all of the instructions even before unwrapping the protective plastic?
  
  
• ...study the instructions and the quickstart guide?
• ...refer to the instructions and study the quickstart guide?
  
  
• ...lose the instructions when throwing the packaging away, but study the quickstart guide hoping for the best?
  
  
• ...look at quickstart guide when it's not obvious how to turn it on?
  
  
• ...frantically search the instruction book after letting the 'magic smoke' out of your appliance hoping you'll find somewhere saying it's suppose to do that?
  
  
• ...after it's been smashed to pieces with a hammer?"

Comments

I never

[Konster]

I never read manuals, but I'd be willing to start if they started putting pictures of naked women in them.

I also use Windows...no manuals needed! Plug and Play! USB! I never buy stuff from companies that don't have an 800 tech support number. Let THEM read the manual to me!

Re:I never

[Lamieur]

Some of us are too shy to call vibrator-vagina-maker's tech-support... I admire you.

I'm confused

[MyGirlFriendsBroken]

Are there devices out there which are not operated by a hammer?

Re:I'm confused

[Stanza]

Originally posted by MyGirlFriendsBroken (599031)
Are there devices out there which are not operated by a hammer?

No wonder your girlfriend is broken.

Difference between boys and girls

[harikiri]

I remember reading somewhere that the reason boys and girls differ in their computer expertise (on average) is due to the following:

• Boy jumps onto the computer, plays with it till he breaks some part of it, and is forced to figure out how to fix it.
• Girl, terrified of breaking the computer, demands to be shown what to do before using it.

Note: Yes this is a broad generalisation, but this is slashdot.

Because the guys jump into using it so quickly, they learn faster through trial and error. The pace of learning with girls is a lot slower due to their desire to know how stuff works first.

This has parallels with "reading instructions". From the large sample of friends that I have, very few of them (male) ever choose to read the instructions.

Personally, I'm affronted that I even need to read the instructions (especially for consumer electronic items). In this day and age, electronic items (VCR/DVD/camcorder/digicam) should be usable by anyone who spends 60 seconds playing with it (think iPod). In short, we should not ever need to read instructions.