Comments on: Twitter’s Fairy Doors

By: Justin D-Z

Justin D-Z — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:08:28 +0000

I think of the levity as a form of deflection of frustration. On a professional, pay service it might good to accomplish deflection as well but not in a “dodging the blame” or “joking about lost sales” way. I think Backpack did this really well. Their message said something like “There’s a problem. Don’t worry, you didn’t cause it. It’s our job to fix it and we’re on it. Service will be restored shortly.”

I’ve seen customers have the “what did I do” reaction when they click a link in a web app and suddenly get an error page. Even though it’s obviously a problem on the service provider’s side, it’s natural to feel as if you caused it. In addition to saying “we’re on top of it,” I think it’s good deflection to mind the user that they can relax.

But, yes Lisa, embiggen is a perfectly cromulent word.

By: Brian Christiansen

Brian Christiansen — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:28:32 +0000

Stephanie, I think that image is just great

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 22:39:04 +0000

The guys I work with at my day job would love to put those messages up but in the past management has asked us to change the image on our 404 page because it was insensitive.

I think it’s important that users get a consistent user experience even when there are problems. A professional website needs professional error messages, a fun website should have fun error messages but both should be helpful and informative

By: Jared Spool

Jared Spool — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:01:30 +0000

Daniel, I think you’re absolutely right.

But this is true of offline experiences too. You’re not going to be happy if the trauma room triage nurse is getting a backrub when you’re gushing blood.

Fun experiences don’t substitute for poor service.

By: Daniel Szuc

Daniel Szuc — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 07:16:49 +0000

For non mission critical services these messages are great! Enjoyed seeing messages like “this service is getting a backrub” etc

Not sure how well people would respond for more mission critical services.