The difference between LJ and Skyehawke

[blamebrampton]

In one of my stories, I have a scene in which the bad guys attempt to take control of the Thames Barrier to hold it open while an artificial storm surge races up the river to flood much of London. It's told in fast snatches, but there are a number of very clear bits of information given to show what's happening, including:

The rest of Draco's Unspeakables arrive. He speaks quickly: "Thames Barrier, we think there's a team using dark magic to hold it open. Storm surge is coming, a big one."

A few people responded to its posting on LJ with "I had no idea what the Barrier was, so I looked it up, it's cool/was on Doctor Who!"

Last night I posted that chapter on Skyhawke. Today I received a comment similar to "Look, I liked it, but you'd have made the ending so much more gripping if you'd explained what the Barrier was." *

I was THIS CLOSE to answering with "Thanks very much for letting me know you liked it, but if you need more Barrier info, you can find it easily! In my day we did not have Google and you had to shag computer scientists to get internet access, so just count yourself lucky, young whippersnapper and use the tools Tim Berners-Lee gave you!"

I held back, but only because I knew I'd receive a reply saying "Berners-Lee? Who?!"

Ah LJ folk, Let me never take you for granted ...

* I should emphasise that I genuinely think this person meant to be helpful here. They were not being intentionally annoying, I am just the least patient closet librarian in the vicinity.

Comments

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. Why do people do that? What has Google done to them to deserve that kind of reaction? *sigh*

[khateh.livejournal.com]

I think the problem with Google is that requires a fair amount of thinking. You have to:
* decide on keywords (and they should be good, too)
* select one of the answers (one of ten, oh, the woes)
* read the content of the page and look for the information.

I'm sure it's scary for many people.

(I might print this bulleted list and give it as gift cards to all of them. call it the Google User Manual for Dummies)

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

Oh, totally. I can see how that's, like, scary for people. And difficult. Very difficult. Quite possibly, it's more difficult than flushing the toilet. Because, god knows, stupidity/laziness reeks. Just as un-flushed toilet bowls are.

And I can't believe there's a book published for that. Google for Dummies? (This For Dummies series crack me up.) Granted, the name is appropriate. But I fear that this might be too complicated for most people. Your bulleted list works better. :)

[khateh.livejournal.com]

I didn't even imagine they would have that book.

I won't go into the flushing toilets business, because that's an issue, too. And to think all the people I work with are uni graduates. *snort*

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

Re: toilets... oh no. Seriously. There too? *gapes*

[khateh.livejournal.com]

It must be an universal problem. One of the things your parents forget to teach you for the 18 years you live with them, like chewing food, not running indoors and so on.

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

I commiserate. O__o;; I am beginning to despair.