The word user is fine | Heydon Works

Apparently, there has been a discussion around whether the term "user" is in some way derogatory. I must say I don't get it, but I do agree with Heydon: if there is a better, more descriptive, more accurate, or more meaningful word – such as contributor or team member – then use it. Otherwise, "user" will do just fine:

But where we have to use the term person to remind ourselves that the person using our product is more than just a user of our product, that says more about the arrogance with which we approach product design than any tokenistic attempts at sounding humane can ever make up for.

The term user is fine, just don’t sell meth.

(bold emphasis mine)

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At the start of the pandemic, Eric made a strong case that all critical websites needed to rapidly optimise for high traffic and accessibility (here very much meaning both a11y and device/situation […]
  • Apparently, there has been a discussion around whether the term "user" is in some way derogatory. I must say I don't get it, but I do agree with Heydon: if there is a better, more […]
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