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'Geek Speak' Confuses Net Users
jonney02 writes "BBC News is running the following story 'The average home computer user is bamboozled by technology jargon which is used to warn people about the most serious security threats online.' "
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"A quarter said they knew what "spyware" was, although almost one in 10 of those thought it was a computer program that kept an eye on unfaithful partners."
LMAO.
Two freaks, no foes. It takes absolutely nothing to make some people angry.
Ok, sow most pc users are dumb in the topic so let's downgrade ourselves to express the threats in a more easily understandable form, right ? So now instead of terms like phishing we will write 10 lines of text at the end of which these people will still not understand the subject since 1). they are still not swallow tech stuff easily 2). they still do not care about trojans, viruses, phishing and the like 3). they just simply forget what the first 1-2 lines were about till they get to the end.
So, insted of switching to longish and dumb and dull explanatory descriptions, just fill the text with links to wikipedia terms and it's done. If joe6p want the explanation, can go there and educate himself. For the others, quickly to the subject. In time, the others might just catch up.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
These people have to take responsibility for their online actions just like in real life
If they go giving away their CC details because they didn't understand the security warning about phishing (rubbish name by the way), then they really shouldn't expect to not get taken to the cleaners.
Would you give me your CC details in the street if I asked nicely? No? You Sure?
How about your National Security Number (Social Security Number for you yanks)? Why? Because its sensitive data and you don't want to get ripped off?
Then don't do it online without being aware of your actions.
Rant Of The Angry Brit Over
A while ago I kept seeing the word "forceware" on various tech sites. I assumed it was related to spyware/maleware in some way. I assumed it related specifically to spyware you were forced to install to get some other program, e.g., all the spyware you're forced to get with Kazaa.
Eventually I learned with ForceWare really is. But for the life of me I cannot understand why nVidia chose such an asinine name for their drivers!
Other than some S&Mers I know, who really likes being forced to do anything?!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
I get tons of scammer emails from all the usual sources .. Ebay, Nigeria etc. And like most readers I recognize them instantly and delete without thinking about it.
Recently I was horrified to see that my dad had received an email from his "bank" asking to verify his financial details - it was an obvious scam from my POV, but my dad of course tried to reply (thankfully the email link had been banned by then so no damage was done). For the record he's got 3 degrees in physics, so I could hardly chalk it up to him being dumb. There is still a very high level of trust amongst users for the internet.
However, I'm pretty certain I could still scam people into giving me their credit card info by just phoning them and bsing something. So you can't blame the technology entirely.
Most users simply do not see the internet and all these threats the way we do. An big issue since we're the ones supposed to be helping them.
if you're using AOL in America you're not the brightest bulb in the box either. It doesn't matter where you live, AOL == stupid
Le français vous intéresse?
"medical speak confuses patients" and "mechanic speak confuses car owners"..
Some professions require profession specific language. Deal.
And yet many users respond to long 419 scams and 30-word emails about enlarging penises. As the saying goes, "size doesn't matter; it's what you do with it that does."
I know exactly what your saying but yesterday I had a friend who had never even downloaded a program before and didn't know how.. are we ment to go and teach all these people how to do even the simplest things?
PCs are complex much like cars, you should do basic maintence and if you don't know any better then get in tech support if stuff goes wrong. This is basic maintence...
I like muppets.
As someone who does internet connectivity tech support for a living, I can verify that this is totally true. People either ask me what to do with every window that pops up, or they just click the first choice in each window. Less than 10% actually read what's in those dialog boxes and warnings. Even if it's the one telling them why their precious email won't work.
Why must every response to "what error message do you get when you can't get your email?" be "An error message? There's a litle window that says 'this program has performed an illegal operation.' Can I get in trouble for that?"
Don't save Windows XP! http://www.petitiononline.com/jjw1xp/petition.html
I think the difference is that after 'misunderstanding' what "check oil" means, there is generally a fairly hefty bill to pay to fix the problem.
After 'misunderstanding' the consequences of "Do you wish to open this attatchment? It may contain viruses", or whatever, the only consequence is a slightly slower computer, with possibly 'interesting' new features.
This is not the greatest conditioning tool.
If the virus/worm/whatever, actually killed the computer stone dead, and the user was then charged a fee to get it working again, I would imagine they would quickly learn.
I'm sure when it comes to other things, cooking for example, they are more than likely to ask a friend for advice, get a book, or watch an educational television program. But when it comes to computers, especially AOL users (sorry for the generalization, no offense AOL/.ers) as in this article, leaving the realm of keywords, buddy lists, 10,000 smileys, punching munkies, and "you've got mail" is very unlikely to happen.
If it werent for the fact that they are going to end up becoming zombies that will aimlessly try passwords on my FTP and SMTP servers I could care less about these lusers, not for their ignorance, but their unwillingness to secure their stuff or learn.--Angry Sysop
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
I have said this before, it would be a good idea to regulate internet use with licenses similar to that of HAM radio. This would reduce spam and the spread of viruses, as well as force people to know what they are doing when the aquire an internet account. Yea, I know that most of you will have some argument aginst this bu your entitled. I personaly think this would help solve many problems.
Most home users have jobs. Many of these jobs require computers. These same users bring their ignorance into the workplace where people like me have to support them.
I try my best to educate them on the theory that an informed person is less likely to repeat the mistake. This is supposed to make my job easier. But they don't care, they find some slightly different way of making the same mistake over and over again.
It doesn't stop with spyware, trojans, and viruses either. I've had laptops come in so filthy that they hade to be taken apart and cleaned out before they would boot. Coffee on the keyboard is common. So are cracked LCD displays (although they aren't often repeated).
The most dangerous user isn't the uninformed one though. The most dangerous user is the one who knows just enough to be dangerous. They will give themselves Admin rights using a disk freely available on the internet and then try to change things that they shouldn't. By the time I get the computer it is a real mess and they know enough to plead ignorance. Those ones really torque me.
When I think about that sub-set, I think I'll take the ignorant user thank you very much.
Damnit Jim. I'm a driver, not a mechanic.
I know SFA about cars. But if a mechanic tells me my car needs to be fixed, I'll ask for clarification. Typically the mechanic pops the hook, points at things and says stuff like "well as you can see this elbow has worn through and is leaking oil; some of that go onto engine which is what caused the smoke, but it also burned through some electrics over there". He could be bullshitting me blind, but the approach and the fact that he can show me something that doesn't look right (I know what a pipe with a hole in it looks like) gives me confidence.
Switch to Joe Average Computer Support. He comes in, screws with the system for four hours, then says its fixed, and bills me. So what was wrong? "Well I downloaded an anti-virus update, new patches for your operating system, upgraded your anti-spyware, cleaned the computer, changed some configurations in Internet Explorer, emptied the recycle bin, shut down and restarted, installed a new graphics driver, changed the network adapter, and then it worked." Okay ... so I'm paying you how much for the diagnostics because you're incompetent, and how much to actually fix my problem?
Forget computer irregulars -- I know plenty of "geeks" that get nailed by every type of malware out there.
Here's the "test yourself" bit: You get an e-mail purportedly from a reputable magazine publisher; they're doing a pre-launch offer on their new IT magazine and invite you to get a free 12 month subscription if you complete an IT profile questionnaire (you know, general stuff about you and your industry). There are links to the publisher's site and to the subscription / questionnaire. The questionnaire needs some personal information like name, postal address and telephone number, plus you need to create a password for an account and give some password recovery info (mother's maiden name, etc).
So is it a scam? Note that this is pre-launch, so there's nothing on the publisher's site about this new magazine. The publisher does make this sort of offer (subscription in exchange for IT profile information) quite often though. The subscription link is on a different domain to the publisher's site, although the domain home points to the publisher's site.
How far will you go in investigating the validity of this offer? Will you ignore the offer of a years' free subscription? Did you notice that you're giving away enough information to be subject to identify theft?
i-name =twylite [http://public.xdi.org/=twylite], see idcommons.net
AOL UK provides a fairly decent no-limits, straight up PPPoA ADSL broadband connection, which you can use with any DSL router or modem -- you don't need their software anymore.
They also provide access to their email via IMAP4.
I wouldn't choose them, but they are extremely well priced in the UK broadband market and have a very good network (in terms of peering, latency and speeds) -- at least on the DSL side of things.
Nearly every other major UK ISP caps users. British Telecom for example has a 512k connection with a 1GB cap for hte same price that AOL does a unlimited one.
Also on the subject of UK Broadband news, UK Online have dropped the price of their 8mbit service to £29.99/month.. which isn't bad at all when you consider it's free activiation and a free 802.11g wireless DSL router.
IntechHosting - Free domain, 2GB, PHP, £4.95/$8.95
I think the real problem with users is that they don't think of computer maintenance as important. If a warning light appears on the dashboard, the car owner will bring his car into the shop. If a warning dialog box appears, the user would never consider bringing the computer to a repair person, and they would certainly never pay for support.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
The car analogy is utterly broken. If you can't see the difference, well, there's probably no way ever explain it to you. You're just not going to get it.
The point is that the machines should not have such deep flaws that they can ever BE insecure. That fact that they have all these holes that need patching is the problem, and that should be addressed at the source, and not by heaping blame on the victims (the users).
If you must use car analogies, the holes in the OS are life DEFECTS in a car that causes an accident or engine fire or something. The flaw can exist long before a patch (or recall notice) is released. Another broken car analogy, but it should illustrate the difference to some extent.
I really think what needs to happen is a cheap crippled version of windows needs to come out for those who don't want to be an admin. Generally it would allow you to surf the net, but it would need authentication that your wares are approved by MS to not hurt your computer. While this is writing newer users into a box, it's like giving them the crappiest thing possible while allowing them to have the same freedoms. I think this could also be a nice step in stopping malware by prehaps disallowing cookies by default since most servers have reasonable session timeouts?
What really needs to be done for unexperianced users would be something very similar to what WebTV was. However they could still be able to make their own documents and save images from the net. However they wouldn't be able to get cookies or modify system files without MS's approval tag.
Why bother giving warning boxes if the user isn't going to read them anyway? I mean they could always put out 'Beginner Edition' (Crippled), 'Advanced Edition' (something close to the home longhorn.), and finally 'Power User' (The full version of Longhorn.) I really think with what I've read about Longhorn, MS is taking a step in the right direction.
It's not the 90's anymore, guys. Being able to use a PC effectively is about as awe-inspiring as being able to use a toaster effectively.
Precisely! It is not hard to learn how to use a computer effectively at all! This is why I have absolutely no patience or sympathy for people who, after 10 years of computer use, have still not attained basic proficiency in using the computer for tasks they perform every day.
I don't expect average users to be programmers or hardware experts, but I sure as hell expect them to have a basic understanding of how to keep their computer safe, and what dangerous things they should watch out for. And that includes knowing terms like "browser", "trojan", "419 scam" and "phishing". Because they're not actually very hard to understand or remember, any more than terms like "engine", "steering wheel", "spark plug" or "gearbox". Which I know and understand, even though I am not a car mechanic.
I appreciate that part of the reason that average people think that computers are "hard", and beyond their understanding, is that the most widely used OS in the world has never aimed to educate its users, and in fact tries to make its inner workings as obscure as possible, and hides everything beneath several layers of interfaces with limited functionality. I know that if your computer crashes regularly for no apparent reason and must be rebooted or have the OS reinstalled, and the company that makes the OS insists that this is a normal part of computer use, and you don't know any better, you will end up believing that computers regularly malfunction and behave abnormally for reasons beyond mortal ken.
There are, however, limits to my tolerance of other people's ignorance, and this doesn't just apply to cluelessness about computers. I'll put up with someone doing stupid things out ignorance once or twice, and try to explain to them what their mistake is so that they'll know better next time. If they do it again and again and again, my sympathy evaporates.
People are smart. People can learn stuff. What's that? You don't want to learn? You want this to magically sort itself out without any hard work on your part, because now that you are no longer in school you shouldn't ever be required to learn anything new ever again? My heart bleeds.
That's it! I'm going to the local junkyard. I'll put bright red "idiot lights" from the dash of an old minivan on the side of my mom's monitor. When the little red "VIRUS" light pops on (and stays on, until [dealer] reset), she'll know to take it to a [mechanic].
We just have to take the warnings off the screen... then they'll pay attention.
These people don't know what they don't know. Since they are unaware of the knowledge required to properly operate/repair a computer, it follows that they do not seek it and do not understand the terms when presented. As a result of this ignorance the computer user is more at risk to be taken advantage of.
This is not a problem unique to computers, it it true of every technological device people use. Does the average person driving a car actually know how a turbocharger works or the terminology used in talking about repairing one: waste gate, compressor, turbine, fluid bearing, intercooler? When they go to a repair shop to get the engine repaired, will they have any clue about what these things are? If I said "Your waste gate trim tabs are locked open and that's causing the grinding noise", would an average person know if I could even be correct? I think not (that statement is bogus by the way. there are no trim tabs on a turbocharger waste gate and a waste gate would not cause an audible noise.)
The problem I see is the growing tendency in the U.S. to simply choose to NOT become informed/educated about how things in our lives work. In "the old days" people generally had a fairly good idea of how everyday things worked. Granted things were simpler, but there's no reason for today's population to at least know the basics. I think the knowledge of the average automobile driver is; the fuel goes there, turn the key to start and stop the engine, vertical pedal=go faster, horizontal pedal=slow down, and what buttons to press to open the windows and change the radio.
It's not very much different for the average computer owner: plug that in to the power outlet, that other thing in to the phone line, click the pretty picture to get on the internet. I'm not suggesting that every new user needs to be a CCIE, but we'd all be a lot better off if the ignorance pendulum started swinging back the other way for a while.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
i also care about how a chicken feel, i care about how all life feels
i have the greatest respect for all life forms unfortunately yours included even if you dont deserve it...
Yes. The problem is that it's the classic tale of "the idiot light that cried wolf".
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
This reminds me of everytime I see a TOS agreement and have no clue what the heck they are talking about. There has to be a way for people to cut through the jargon and get to the gist of it. What's the point of language if most people have no clue what you're talking about...?
Just an example: I was at a friends house, watching TV. On his computer, 4 feet away, a dialog box pops up, from his firewall, warning of an attempt to connect on a port of a known trojan horse (subseven). Its bright red, with warning in big letters. Looks it belongs on star trek computers during red alert. So he clicks allow?!? i ask him why, and he says its been doing that all day and if he clicks deny it just comes up again in 10 minutes. Just to show how little people care about what things say on their computer. (he did actually have the trojan, he got it from a crack he downloaded. He had also set his antivirus to ignore it....)
Waffles rock.
They fired all their HCI experts in order to hire 800 art students to create new and increasingly ugly WMP skins.
Next question?
What's worse is the type of dialog I see often:
Here's a clue that would take, oh, about, 2 minutes of the developer's time. Make the buttons say something actually relevant like "Delete" and "Leave".
But no, that would require thinking about usability, and that is so-o-o-o-o early 90's.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
It's funny, I was following this convention for a system I wrote, and a human interface "expert" required me to change everything to "Yes, No, Cancel".
/. would not let me post a reply properly or even preview, so I am trying this as a test. I'm sorry if it works (sort of)! :)
:by Brooklynoid (656617) Alter Relationship on Wednesday April 06, @11:29AM (#12155329)
:I'm not sure why this would be a surprise to anyone; the communications gap between IT professionals and the
:general population has been around as long as computers have. This gap is present in any technical industry, as
:well; how many of the great unwashed understand everything they hear from their doctor or their auto
:mechanic? The difference is that we've been conditioned to expect to pay doctors and auto mechanics for their
:skill and for explaining things in lay terms where necessary. Folks seem to expect computers to be "easy" and
:support for them to be free, for some reason.
:)
:>
:)
... professionals and the general population has been around ... long .... This gap is present in any technical industry...."
/.], but over mobile phones, in grocery store, at bus stops, and even at family dinner. It even amuses us to notice in mid-sentence that some innocent passerby is staring at us as if we were s
: This is news? (Score:4, Insightful)
Hi!
I said it 15 years ago and I will continue to say it: It is only a matter of waiting for the young ones to grow up totally immersed in this computer environment. Then we will not hear these complaints all the time saying, *whiner voice* "computers are too hard to learn." They are not too hard to learn. They are simply different to learn. Already, I know of numerous children even as young as 4 years old, who can run circles around most of the adults I know. Maybe when they grow up, they will whine about how hard the holodecks are to learn. Maybe they will have a valid point, because holodecks perhaps would not be a practical daily life skill. Maybe people just like to whine.
I agree with your assessment. There is another important difference here, that should also not be a surprise. Pardon my cut/paste for effect.
"The communications gap between
A big difference between computer professionals and other professionals, i.e., doctors, physicists, and lawyers, is that computers (and the inevitable new terms and ideas that come with them) are now IN and AMONG the general population.
In contrast:
1} Doctors talk doctor-speak to each other all the time, but do not expect patients to learn most of the lingo. Why? Because theirs is a SPECIALIZATION skill. Only a small percentage of the population will have a practical use for knowing the jargon.
2) Physicists also talk physicist-speak amongst themselves, but they do not expect the layman to learn most of that lingo for the same reason. Why should the expectation exist? The layman will not use this knowledge in his everyday life. Physics thug: "At the velocity of C, before I propel this metallic slug into your body's atomic mass, tell me what is Newton's 42nd Law of Thermodynamics!?"
3) Lawyer-speak is a bit different than the other two examples, in that famous cases in the news have exposed the layman to many technical terms. Who doesn't know about class-action lawsuits, due process, pre-emptive strikes, copyright infringement, or "Court is now in session. Honorable Judge Wapner presiding," these days? And yet, not knowing these terms will not hamper productivity in daily life for most people, nor for those around them. (Although you might get a few odd stares.)
So, now we have geeks and geek-speak, which is used liberally and with abandon, not only in the office, on 1200 baud BBS's *shudder*, Usenet, IM's, [insert any of a million common computer-related communication methods here including but not limited to
.no