WhyPeopleRespondToArticles

Perhaps Johanna's observations on why people respond to someone's writing is an interesting thread to pursue. - BeckyWinant

Becky, this is off-topic a bit. Testers may or may not resonate with models, as do developers, project managers, system analysts, or any other job title. Testers are not a particular type, except as how Sherry described above (the need to throw the damn thing against the wall, just to see what happens). However, the question of why people chose not to comment on your article is different. You chose one interpretation. I have noticed people tend to comment on my articles when:

I suggest specific things they could do
I touch them on a human level, not a technical level
I've said something somewhat controversial

I've also noticed that people respond to other people's articles when the articles are quite technical.

People don't comment for lots of reasons. -- JohannaRothman 2002.07.29

Johanna

The interpretation of why people didn't comment on my last article was Bob's original proposition which morphed into a discussion totally apart from my article. That being said....

Your guidelines are very useful.

I'm a bit confused by:

I touch them on a human level, not a technical level ...

I've also noticed that people respond to other people's articles when the articles are quite technical.

What do you think is happening in the second situtation that may be different? - BeckyWinant 2002.07.29

One obvious factor that I often hear is that folks are just too busy to respond. That doesn't mean that the article was not interesting or would not warrant some type of written response. I have read many articles that I would like to respond to but couldn't due to more important priorities (such as personal committments and client responsibilities). When I confer with other consultants, technical folks, and my clients and ask them whether they get a chance to respond to articles they read, I often get the same response: I would love to but I'm very busy at the moment and just don't have the time. Even with careful scanning and screening, reading books, newspapers, journals, moderated forums, and the Web can usurp any little writing time that you may have. See the related thread NoTimeAvailForDifferentMethods for a further discussion of the lack of time.

For me, I would say that in the past the more technical the article the more likely that I would comment on it. - JohnSuzuki 2002.08.07

As an author of many articles (and books) over many years, I've formed some intuitive data about responders, something like this:

only about one in 50 people who thinks of responding actually responds
only about one in 20 people who read the article thinks of responding
so, one response might represent a thousand readers, more or less
half are just responding to something burning inside of them that has nothing to do with the article

So, I take half the responses very seriously, as representing several thousand readers. The trick is to know which half. - JerryWeinberg 2002.08.07

Hap (Bite!). How do you distinguish serious from not serious responders? --NynkeFokma 10-8-2002

If you saw them, you would know. But if there is any doubt, I treat them seriously. - JerryWeinberg 2002.08.10

Nynke, I distinguish between the serious responders and the solemn responders :-) The solemn responders are responding to something inside of them that may have nothing to do with anything I actually wrote. The serious responders may want to correct me, or to engage in dialogue, or just to see if there's a person behind the writing. Then, there are the people who want some free consulting. Of the people who want to correct me, some of them want to make sure my facts are straight. Most of them want the pleasure of telling the expert she was wrong.

Every so often, I hear from cheerful people too :-) Those responses are fun. --JohannaRothman 2002.08.15

Johanna, I am sitting here giggling at the idea that anyone would have any doubt that was a real person behind your writing. What a wonderful surprise they would have in store! SherryHeinze 2002.08.15

Sherry, we'll have to giggle together at AYE. What's truly funny is when people think I make up the stories I tell. (Sometimes that's why they think there isn't a person behind the name.) I wish I could say my imagination is that good, but I only tell true stories :-) -- JohannaRothman 2002.08.16

Updated: Friday, August 16, 2002