Web Dev Taboos, Part 1 of 1: Don't Insult Your Users

My friend Matt has a warning for trend setting, popular web application developers who forget the people that got them there: the users.

...you're playing in a land of developers, get used to it. Many of us could create the exact same products you're making, and do it just as well. What is currently setting you ahead of the pack is your ability to come up with the idea to begin with NOT your ability to build the product or even the decisions to include or exclude particular features.

As a web developer myself, I know how hard it is to put yourself in the user's shoes. However, you have to take every complaint seriously - there's just too many people who will ditch you without complaining. And whatever you do, for God's sake don't piss them off by publicly making fun of their feedback.

It's amazing how many developers think they're entitled to build the application they think the customer needs, not the one want. Although Matt and I have disagreed from time to time about how exactly to handle users' comments, I don't think there's any doubt on the profound inadvisability of insulting your users for providing feedback you depend on. It's said that on the internet, nobody knows you're an asshole... unless you build your business around being one.

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Incidentally, Etsy is probably the most beautiful, well designed Web 2.0 app I've seen. My wife has been pretty much obsessed with it lately, and she's starting to sell some stuff through it (her work was featured on the front page recently). It's kind of wierd to see her getting into bulletin board politics, blogging, and other things that she resisted for so long, but I can totally see why she loves this site. I'd like to look further into Etsy at some future point; right now I'm mostly looking over her shoulder.

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Written on Friday, April 14, 2006