đź—ť Introduction: A Moment of Friction, or a Moment of Trust?
Every piece of software eventually fails. What separates good software from great software isn’t just how it works—but how it fails.
Far too often, users are met with cold, cryptic, or meaningless error messages:
- "Error – OK"
- "Something went wrong"
- "Retry"
- "Error in message stream (Retry)"
These messages do nothing to inform, comfort, or empower the user. They are, in essence, a broken contract between developer and user.
đź’ˇ The Problem: Errors Without Empathy
When a system fails and all a user sees is "Error in message stream (Retry)," it's a double failure:
- The technical failure itself
- The failure to acknowledge the user's experience
Worse still, the lack of actionable information—no code, no guidance, no point of contact—sends the message: "We don't really care what went wrong, and we don't expect to fix it."
âś… The Better Way: Messages with Dignity
What should a good error message do?
- Acknowledge the issue: “Oops, something didn’t work.”
- Provide a clear ID or code for tracking/debugging.
- Offer next steps: Retry? Contact? Report?
- Include a human tone: Apologize. Empathize. Show respect.
- (Optionally) Confirm it's been logged: Let the user know they’ve been heard.
"We're sorry—an unexpected error occurred while connecting to our service (Error #7777).
This error has been logged, and one of our engineers will be notified.
Please try again in a few minutes, or contact support."
That one message rebuilds trust, shows accountability, and gives users a path forward.
🔧 The Excuse: “But That Costs Money”
Yes, thoughtful error handling takes:
- More time
- Real engineering effort
- Human support infrastructure
But it also:
- Saves time in the long run (fewer bug reports, clearer diagnostics)
- Builds user trust and loyalty
- Differentiates good software from bad
This isn’t just a matter of making the user experience more pleasant—it’s about treating people with respect, especially when things go wrong. It’s part of software ethics.
✨ Final Thought
We’ve all been on the receiving end of software that fails without grace. But when a developer takes the time to write a clear, honest, and human-centered error message, something subtle but powerful happens:
The user feels seen.
That’s what The Dignity of Error Messages is all about.