slightly OT: preventing user stupidity

[Lerebours, Jose]

Joe posted:

> meaningless rant of the day:  how far do you go to prevent 
> user stupidity?
> 
> program:  Q.  Do you wish to post now? (Y/N)
> user: Y
> 
> program: Q. Are you SURE you wish to post? (Y/N)
> user: Y
> 
> program:  Q. Are you REALLY REALLY REALLY SURE you want to 
> post now? (Y/N)
> user: Y
> 
> user:  SH*T.  i didn't want to post.  time to call the 
> consultant to drop
> everything and unpost the 63 places that get affected by my careless 
> posting of data that was certainly not my fault that was 
> posted in error.
> 
> 
> what to do?  obviously, the more questions you ask the more the user
> just answers by rote without thinking.  its not always appropriate or
> helpful to the end-user to have a corresponding unpost/undo routine.
> 
> i've thought of;
> a) mixing up yes/no answers so that they can't press "yes" 
> all the time
> 
> (e.g. do you want to post? / enter Y to cancel post, N otherwise...)
> 
> b) forcing type out of word "Yes" or "Agree" instead of Y or N
> 
> c) creating a random character sequence each time and ask user to
> type in to confirm post.
> 
> draconion?  what have other people tried that would not make them the
> one least likeley to be invited to christmas party?
> 

When they call to have everything reversed, I show them to the Journal
entry table, show them how to manually put inventory back and how to
adjust job costing to deflate commission due.

Once they realize all the work 'THEY' have to do, they pretty soon 
learn to read and answer accordingly.  There is not magic to make
a careless/reckless user do the right thing.  If you try chasing this
around, you will only get dizzy and learn that no matter what, it is
never enough for some users.

My experience has been the least key-stroke the better.  So, having
them type more than a single key stroke will be suicide.

Discipline and accountability are the most effective tools!

Regards;


Jose Lerebours