01-09-2019, 05:10 PM
I'm not an engineer but my job title includes the word. I'm friendly with several actual engineers (though no civic ones) and they're all very well aware of having to make compromises in their designs. Critical honest feedback makes engineers better. There are a lot of very well understood practices that can reduce the impact of humans who interact with a system and not all can be followed but by definition that's a bad design. Sometimes business constraints require bad designs. Sometimes humans fuck up, even the ones who have a special ring, and pointing out when a design is in error is not at all a bad thing.
There are some systems that are designed extremely well and many people aren't able to grasp that design - there are several social circles I inhabit where I can't say the word 'roundabout' without people shouting invectives - but even if that's the case here (I lack the knowledge required to have an opinion) criticizing the design isn't inherently wrong, it's an opportunity to learn.
So if the design is right, defend it with information. Claiming that someone is ignorant isn't a defence of a design. "You're not capable of understanding the constraints of the design" is a garbage argument, especially when levied against the people on this forum.
There are some systems that are designed extremely well and many people aren't able to grasp that design - there are several social circles I inhabit where I can't say the word 'roundabout' without people shouting invectives - but even if that's the case here (I lack the knowledge required to have an opinion) criticizing the design isn't inherently wrong, it's an opportunity to learn.
So if the design is right, defend it with information. Claiming that someone is ignorant isn't a defence of a design. "You're not capable of understanding the constraints of the design" is a garbage argument, especially when levied against the people on this forum.