Re: A Good Response to "No One Reads the Help Anyway"

Subject: Re: A Good Response to "No One Reads the Help Anyway"
From: "Bill Swallow" <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:34:14 -0500

There are three primary reasons for accessing Help:

1) new user
2) use of new feature or need to perform a new operation
3) received unexpected result more than once

A preference for knowledge does not override the intention of Help.
Help is very much true to its name - it's providing help with
something. If the goal of Help was knowledge, it wouldn't be called
Help, but perhaps Teach or Mentor.

There's nothing short-sighted about wanting a quick answer to a
problem. There's nothing correct about wanting to learn more about
what you're doing, either. There are specific tools for each.

Bill

On Dec 14, 2007 3:06 PM, Combs, Richard <richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com> wrote:
> I'm sure Cooper is right, at least when it comes to an immediate need or
> problem, or for the average short-sighted user. But I, for one, have a
> strong preference for becoming more knowledgeable because I believe it
> will help me be more consistently successful in the future.

--
Bill Swallow
HATT List Owner
WWP-Users List Owner
Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter
STC Single-Sourcing SIG Manager
http://techcommdood.blogspot.com
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Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: A Good Response to "No One Reads the Help Anyway": From: Yves JEAUROND
RE: A Good Response to "No One Reads the Help Anyway": From: Combs, Richard

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