Character Tropes in Technology
Nov. 13th, 2019 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deborah- The Color Specialist
- The color specialist has no opinions about where to put the bikeshed, what materials to use, where buy the paint, or how to fund raise for its construction. The color specialist will never volunteer to help with construction, to leaflet the neighborhood about the bikeshed raising party, or to take minutes at the Bikeshed Design Group meetings. The color specialist will not buy the paint, drive someone else to the paint store, or look up the paint store's hours on the internet. The color specialist will, however, wait until the paint has been applied and then raise furious points of order about the use of eggshell over semigloss finishes.
- The Serious Reader
- The serious reader is up on all the terms. She reads the important bloggers and name drops them constantly. Sometimes she even reads print books and magazines, if she's old enough. She uses the vocabulary of her heroes' blog posts, whether or not it applies correctly or completely to the situation. The serious reader loves to rules lawyer any general philosophy or principle, turning a general guideline into an unbreakable rule. She disapproves of any technology that her heroes dislike, and loves what they love--unless they advocate against her favorite design pattern. Then she digs up some contradictory articles pointing out that they are wrong, wrong, wrong.
- Émile
- Émile has had a natural tech education, created by reading nothing at all. He learned on the job and is uninterested in any technology he's never seen before. If it has always worked before, it's correct, regardless of whether it's sustainable, accessible, or secure. Any thought of best practice is offensive to Émile; what we do here is best.
- The Marginalized Apologist
- The marginalized apologist jumps into conversations to tell other marginalized people they haven't experienced harassment or trauma. The marginalized apologist points to successful marginalized people as evidence that the harassment has never happened, while telling everyone else that they should get over it, be quiet, and take their complaints to private conversations. The marginalized apologist is an amazing gaslighter, saying things like "what do you mean a well-documented history of harassment?" about people who are on video being horrible at tech conferences for decades. The marginalized apologist just wants us all to get along and talk about the technology.
- The Natural Born Expert
- The natural born expert turns up out of nowhere in a small tech community, known to nobody in the community, suddenly running a consultancy or trying to replace an incredibly well-established spec. The natural born expert isn't trying to make change by learning the tech or networking or getting involved with the professional community. Instead, they are representing themselves to customers and the press as someone who knows what they are talking about. Actual experts, who can clearly see that they are lying, only sometimes make a dent in the natural born experts convictions and public positioning.
- The Evangelist
- Try telling the evangelist that she is as passionate about her religion in exactly the same fashion as adherents of the opposite religion. Try telling her that she sounds exactly like worshippers of That Other Founder, or The Enemy Product. She won't believe you. Then she will tell you she refuses to support your browser / operating system / assistive technology / car, because it's evil and bad, and also all the security problems with the product and people she perfers are irrelevant, because Reasons.
- The Cat Herder Who Used To Be A Cat
- The cat herder was a cat a long time ago, even though they spend all day herding cats these days. They are positive that they can tell actually cats how to eat kibble and meow and lick their own asses, but it turns out that former cats have forgotten how to do all those things. They keep lying down in the bowl of kibble and making a mess, then scolding the cats for eating their kibble wrong.
- The Anti-Patternist
- The anti-patternist has all kinds of words to tell you what you're doing wrong or what they're doing right. If they can link to a wikipedia page for that Absolutely Proves Their Unassailable Point, so much the better. The anti-patternist can happily explain how whatever your code is doing, it's bloat or creeping featurism or input kludge or not DRY or ignoring YAGNI or insufficiently KISS. If there's an acronym and it's obscure, it's great. If the anti-pattern has a very rude name (object orgy, code smell, cargo cult) that's best of all. The code doesn't have to be an example of the anti-pattern at all.
- The Javascript Programmer
- 'Nuff said.
It's been a long week.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-14 03:10 am (UTC)I can see that.
This is a beautiful taxonomy, and I'm sorry you were in a position to observe so many examples.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-16 01:20 am (UTC)The weird thing is that it was in so many different contexts. Over here on this volunteer committee, over here on this mailing list, over here in this professional situation.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-15 01:45 am (UTC)The naming of "Émile" is gorgeous, though.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-16 01:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-16 04:24 am (UTC)