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A Good Response to “No One Reads the Help Anyway”
December 11th, 2007 | Posted in Technical Writing |
In this three-minute STC Atlanta podcast, Judy Glick Smith says she’s tired of trying to convince sales people of the value of documentation. She says she’s “tired of fighting the good fight.”
No doubt as a technical writer you’ve heard the phrase, “No one reads the help anyway.” They let out a small chuckle to indicate that they’re only kidding, although deep down they’re being totally serious. Many people believe help files are almost insignificant except to a small percentage of people.
But the next time you hear someone say, “No one reads the help anyway,” say, “Yah, no one uses Google either.”
This will lead to a puzzling follow-up question — What do you mean? I use Google all the time.
Then you say, What do you use Google for? To search for answers, solutions, and information when you have questions?
Google is one large help file.
Update Jan 2008: I updated my thoughts on this post with some new reflections.
Take a ride down Writer River, a social news site for technical communicators.
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Tags: Google, online help, skepticism, value of documentation
December 11th, 2007 at 6:57 am
Which implies we author or edit the world-wide help system everytime we contribute to Wikipedia, online forums, etc.?
Interesting idea, but I’m not sure I buy it - it sounds too much like: “In the future, everyone will be a SME for 15 minutes” by the eminent technical writing guru Andy Warhol…
Anyway, it piqued my interest to check out the podcast!
December 11th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Google != Help.
December 11th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
@techcommdood: Well-crafted searches in Google can work nearly as well as a help file or a document. I personally find Google indispensable when I’m looking for an answer to a question or problem.
December 11th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I second Scott’s point, especially in cases/fields when
- I’m a newbie or
- a Word bug is so obnoxious, *some*one is bound to have sounded off about it before me - and someone else hopefully found a workaround
December 11th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
[...] to “No One Reads the Help Anyway” Tue, December 11, 2007 - 10:50 AM Stolen from http://www.idratherbewriting.com/2007/12…-anyway/ ….the next time you hear someone say, “No one reads the help anyway,” say, “Yah, no one [...]
December 11th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Nice one! It did make me giggle. And who knows, it might make them stop and think.
December 12th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Thanks techcommdood for the tip. I didn’t know you could search Google’s help content like that. Where did you learn that?
December 12th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Yes, my point was that people do search for answers all the time. I often hear users say they learn software only from hands-on instruction or explanations from colleagues (someone showing them). But this isn’t entirely true. They’re searching for how-to answers all the time on Google. Unfortunately the help link in a software app. inspires a lot less confidence than Google.
December 12th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I think what Bill (aka techcommdood) was trying to say was that he doesn’t think Google is equivalent to help — which I don’t think was really your point, but seems to be what some people took away from your post.
Oh well…
December 12th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Not exactly. Google is a search engine. Help *has* a search engine, but a search engine isn’t Help. Search, IMHO, shouldn’t be the primary takeaway from an explanation of what Help is.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:31 am
[...] No-one reads the help anyway the next time you hear someone say, “No one reads the help anyway,” say, “Yah, no one uses Google either.” This will lead to a puzzling follow-up question — What do you mean? I use Google all the time. Then you say, What do you use Google for? To search for answers, solutions, and information when you have questions? [...]
December 18th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com - The gamers forum that I frequent, and my Team Fortress 2 server. H - http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/ - Not making that one up. That’s really the top entry for H. I -http://www.idratherbewriting.com/2007/12/11/a-good-response-to-no-one-reads-the-help-anyway/- This one came down from my boss. Always looking for a way to encourage her tech writers. J - http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/05/comparison-shows-significant-edits-to-gerstmanns-kane-and-lynch-r/ - Probably totally irrelevant to non-gamers, but this is
January 28th, 2008 at 11:59 am
i never use help. especially the help from microsift. they don’t say anything. it’s like they make it for dumb people. help should be very exact, very precise and with lots and lots of details… not like - ask your ISP if any errors occur, or restart windows… hate that!
April 9th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
You wouldn’t believe the amount of programs with little to no help documentation :/
July 1st, 2008 at 10:46 am
[...] 6. Understand why no one reads the help anyway. [...]