[mythtv-users] references to "significant other"

[Phill Wiggin]

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|
| i was saying two things
|
| stop using your wife/girlfriend/partner to represent somebody who
| is technically illiterate. it is not necessary and in my opinion
| insulting.

The majority of people signed up for this list are the technically
savvy.  Those of us that want a feature put in feature requests
directly (e.g. It'd be great if we could sift through the database in
a mythmenu to do X, it'd make life easier.)  When a feature is passed
on from "the wife" (*jab* *jab*), it becomes a WAF issue.  If we don't
get our wishes fulfilled, it's not a problem.  We know Myth's
shortcomings, and are willing to deal with them or attempt to fix them
ourselves.  Our wives ("the wives") generally don't care (or aren't
technically able) to do anything about it other than inform us.  So,
what would you have us do? Submit all requests as though we care about
them?  What, exactly, is wrong with saying "My wife has trouble with
X, it'd really make her happy if we could have X+1"?  We're not
denigrating or insulting "the wives" out there.  We're not claiming
that they lack an IQ high enough to figure out the technicalities.  We
are honest with ourselves and each other in saying that our wives
would like a change, a more friendly way to deal with this rather
large investment (in time and money) that is the bright and shiny MythBox.

|
| if myth's UI is broken or hard to use or generally not of
| sufficient quality/robustness or is just plainly user unfriendly
| then say so and we can work to fix it. don't invoke "she who must
| be obeyed" (as you put it) as a reason.
|
And why is "she who must be obeyed" not a good reason?  I can think of
dozens of things I've done in the past that I thought were silly,
useless, or frivolous, but my SO at the time (no, none of my SO's
cared that I referred to them as "SO's") thought it was _really_
important.  Likewise, "the wife" decided she didn't like the way
something _looked_ on the Myth frontend.  So, I dug around for a
couple hours and figured out how to change it.  The _entire_ reason I
did it was becase "she must be obeyed" or the Myth project would be
relegated to the unused TV in the computer room (or re-formatted and
made into a web server).

Most of us don't care about the little knit-pickey things that
non-tech's care about (my wife is a tech, but only cares about the
usability and prettiness).  There are times when certain features are
only required for the WAF. Face it, the only person most of us have to
worry about impressing is "the wife".  "The wife"'s Acceptance is the
primary Factor in whether the MythBox stays in the living room or
whether we have to bend to "she who must be obeyed" and order a TiVo
or cable company DVR. (See where WAF came from and why it's important?)

<disclaimer>To those just lurking this thread, I hope I'm actually
making a point here and there.  PC people make me kinda nuts, and I
type precisely what comes to my mind in the order it comes.  I take no
responsibility for my statements or lack of coherence. >:} </disclaimer>

- --Phill W.

P.S.  I should add in an addendum to my previous WAF formula.  I had
the opportunity to show off my MythTV setup to the in-laws last
weekend.  I've found that:

WAF = ease_of_use * hrs_of_uptime + bells_and_whistles
- -times_the_darn_thing_goes_down * 1000/times_I_do_dishes_per_week +
In_laws_OOH_AAAH/number_of_in_law_visits_per_month


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