TFM stands for “Read The Fine Manual”. But the letter “F” does not necessarily stand for “Fine”. This phrase, which is a popular support forums acronym, is often used in scenarios where a basic question is asked despite the fact that it can be easily answered given some minimal research effort.

Inevitably, this reminds me of times when my mother asks me computer-related questions over the telephone. I have read about similar experiences from others, so I will share. The bottom line is that I steer away from any such conversations and sometimes refuse to answer questions. Why? Because, at the end, these conversations tend to frustrate both sides. What was supposed to take just seconds to achieve can ultimately consume long and miserable minutes that involve impatience, anger and blame games.

The root of such problems is reluctance to read manuals. To friends or family members, the demands are often higher. To a non-tech-savvy person, everything needs to be done in the form of a UI or command-line ‘recipe’ by somebody else. Rather than exploring a program and learning how it works, some people want to exclusively know the path to the few things which need doing. It’s the natural and rational approach, so there is little room for blame. However, any program which is to be used in the long term can be learned from literature and tutorials, rather than endless one-on-one crash courses.

Lazy users, in my opinion, are often those who rebel against the intrusion of technology into our lives. When it’s something new that they face, they just immediately ask others and expect to be served. Why? Because it’s easier to ask. But beyond a certain point it’s unacceptable. Exploration and trial-and-error routines are still a fundamental and important skill to anyone that is inquisitive.

As for my mother, I reached the point where I insist that she spends several hours looking at application menus, without ‘tinkering’ too much. For one who isn’t familiar with the application at hand, it’s unfair to seek help to grasp the very basics. The exception is, of course, dedicated/paid support/teaching. Otherwise it’s just wasteful; Especially if the manuals are out there. Giving a solution will not help without context, as well as user orientation. Without letting others acquire the skills of exploring computer programs and their user interfaces, a request is implicitly made for more of the same.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 10th, 2006 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.