When my head is burried in a topic, it’s easy to think that everybody else is in the same place. Of course, that isn’t true. When I feel lost in a sea of everybody, it helps to remember that it’s not actually everybody.
Sometimes I read Webmaster forums, and I’m perplexed at how popular it is for participants to create their own Webmaster resources. Why? Because they see it as a lucrative business to be in because everybody cares about it like they do.
I’m not saying Webmasters don’t want resources, but the crowd of people interested in something you’re passionate about is never as big as you imagine.
I’ve been enjoying a series of posts called “Ask Skeptic’s Mom.” A Web guy asks his mom what a technology is and even gives her time to research it:
If you don’t know what those are, his mom is not the person to ask. It’s been said plenty elsewhere, but it’s pretty obvious from just those posts that the non-Web-Developer audience is difficult for Web Developers to envision.
The underlying problem here isn’t in finding better definitions. We don’t even need better user education. Most people don’t want to use a Wiki or RSS, they want to “use the Internet.” We need to recognize that our “everybody” does not mean everybody.
Is this about all those “tubes” I keep hearing about?
PS – love the new comment “captcha” (“Check only the President”)