I’ve been squeezing through these railings for the last two years. Now, at last, I have my own path. Thanks Tesco. #tesco #cardiff #weaternavenue #desirepaths

PRODUCTHEAD: The strange attraction of desire paths

This week’s #productmanagement newsletter lovingly curated by Jock Busuttil (@jock) features Smriti Swaminathan, @thulme @ainikolov & Will Stokes

#prodmgmt #ux #desirepaths https://imanageproducts.com/producthead-the-strange-attraction-of-desire-paths/

PRODUCTHEAD: The strange attraction of desire paths

This week’s #productmanagement newsletter lovingly curated by Jock Busuttil (@jock) features Smriti Swaminathan, @thulme @ainikolov & Will Stokes

#prodmgmt #ux #desirepaths https://imanageproducts.com/producthead-the-strange-attraction-of-desire-paths/

@FiXato Note that when I'm distinguishing design intent from evolved use, I'm NOT claiming one is superior or more valid than the other. Only that they differ. I'm a big believer in #DesirePaths (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path), and there are often times where the people take technology in directions its developers never considered.

In this case, there's also the issue that there's an active conflict between several factions, and there are different considerations which are not always accurately represented especially by those in opposition.

There's the FreezePeach argument. I'm relatively unsympathetic.

There's the Avoid Psychic Harm Harm / Check Your Privilege group. I'm fairly, but not wholly, sympathetic. Univerally-accepted norms on a universally-adopted platform ... tend to a small set of minimum viable factors, and many groups can argue for what might seem in isolation to be reasonable practices which are not in aggregate compatible. I try to be mindful, but I'm not going to comply with all requests, and will actively oppose some such requests.

There's the "we're establishing a new set of norms here" argument. That's ... interesting but ultimately probably limited, the more so as / if Mastodon / Fediverse adoption grows markedly. (By definition, any medium used by a large and representative share of the population WON'T be representative of a niche or underrepresented cohort, though it can take some of their concerns into consideration).

There's the UI/UX argument, which I've made. In a nutshell: CW's have some uses, design and evolved intents are at odds, there are some significant misfeatures, and some of the vociforously-argued norms strike me as both unlikely and unreasonable.

There's the freak-flag argument, which I've made: A number of people with interesting things to say on obscure topics hide those discussions behind CWs for ... reasons I really can't grok. I'd like to see more intellectual diversity on the Fediverse, and make that easier to see and share. CWs actively work against that for both present Fediverse members AND those not (yet) on the platform. Of all the harms, this is the one I actually feel strongest about.

Again: A set of simple and trivial UI/UX changes would address most of this. It's ... not happened, and I'm beginning to think after five+ years of campaigning for it that it never will (based on experiences in advocating for platform changes elsewhere). That's ... disappointing.

@Gargron @TheGibson @aendra

@sallysetsforth And even better, I just found out that when you spin this around you get a bonus faint #DesirePath just to the left, like a double rainbow. #DesirePaths really fascinate me (and @cogdog).