MetaChat - Stupid clients rant #675:

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04 June 2008

Stupid clients rant #675: So I was presenting a website to a client yesterday, it's a Django-based site for the Urban Design Institute of the university I teach at.
One of the underlings was fairly pushy, putting on his serious voice and asking clueless but (to him) techie sounding questions like "What's the capacity of the website?", "What's the level of security?", etc. Annoying, but well within the normal parameters of client cluelessness.
Then, he asks: "Does it have chat?", and I say "no", so he folows up with:→[More:]

"What else doesn't it have?"

I literally could not think of a non-snarky answer to this mindboggingly stupid question.
I ended up pointing at the projection and saying "it has everything that you see there", with probably like only 50% snarkiness in my voice.

post by: signal at: 18:19 | 18 comments

Hahahaha. I'm going to start asking everyone I do websites for what capacity their website needs to be.

I am so impressed you avoided a snarky response to the last question, I would have started laughing.

posted by Sil 04 June | 18:30

I would've answered the capacity question with, "7."

posted by chewatadistance 04 June | 18:42

It doesn't have wheels.
It doesn't have a dorsal fin.
It doesn't have syphilis.

posted by BitterOldPunk 04 June | 18:50

It doesn't have pinstripes.
It doesn't have MIDI background music.
It doesn't Hava Negila.

posted by box 04 June | 19:28

Wowie. That's dumb.

posted by richat 04 June | 20:00

It doesn't have bunnies.

posted by Brandon Blatcher 04 June | 20:08

It doesn't have an Eldorado Cadillac with a spare tire on the back.
It doesn't have a charge account at Goldblatt's.
It doesn't have a tavern and a liquor store.

posted by GeckoDundee 04 June | 20:18

I would've answered the capacity question with, "7."

That was actually my exact answer to the 'level of security' question.

posted by signal 04 June | 20:42

In that case, '8.'

posted by box 04 June | 20:44

What's the capacity of the website? WTF is that even supposed to mean? Storage space? Maximum simultaneous users? Transfer limits? Wow, I'm so sorry.

I'd love to start asking that question about every project I'm involved in at work, just to see how people interpret it.

"We're here to talk about the impact of the new user interface on user experience. Treepour, do you have any numbers for us?"

"Yes, but first I have a question. What's the capacity?"

posted by treepour 04 June | 21:43

tell them: it goes to 11.

posted by eatdonuts 04 June | 22:14

Well, since this is a technical audience, they'll know that capacity is measured in Farads, but it would be polite of you to clarify if you're using the full SI unit, or the much more common "uF", or microFarad.

posted by Triode 04 June | 22:14

The capacity depends on whether the packets are being carried by European or African swallows.

posted by qvantamon 04 June | 22:59

It doesn't have a compound (it's a ranch)
It doesn't have a lifestyle (it has a life)
It doesn't have a bug (it has a feature)

posted by taz 05 June | 00:55

It doesn't make YOU look capable in front of your co-workers.

posted by arse_hat 05 June | 00:57

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

posted by grouse 05 June | 10:03

But it does have your mom's number!

posted by casarkos 05 June | 10:08

Obviously, the answer to the capacity question should have been 42.

Sometimes I wonder how nerdy some of you people really are.

*shakes head in wonder*

posted by dg 05 June | 15:52

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