A Perennial Complaint

I'm sure I've brought it up before, and I'm not even going to bother mentioning which platform or online tool I ran into it on this week because it's endemic. Here's what happens:

• You start using a site or tool. It's new to you, and there's a learning curve. Even if you've used similar sites or tools before, there will be differences, and it will take some time to find your way around and get used to everything.
• You get used to everything. It's a fine site or tool. It does what you need it to do, or at least what you expect of it. It does those things reasonably well. You're happy with it.
• One day you get an email announcing a NEW IMPROVED USER EXPERIENCE or CHANGES TO OUR PLATFORM TO ENHANCE [PERFORMANCE, SECURITY, OR SOME OTHER METRIC]. Or maybe not. Maybe you just log in and things aren't quite the way they were.
• You have to re-learn how to use the damn site or tool, and it often seems like it's harder, not easier, to use than it was before.

Yes, I understand that there are sometimes real, valid, necessary reasons for this kind of thing. They may even be reasons you don't see from the user perspective, e.g. New Way B vs. Old Way A puts less strain on the site/tool's servers to achieve the same ultimate functionality, and they'd rather change the process than pay for more hardware to keep up with things.

But all too often, what it really feels like is that they have a bunch of guys in the basement, guys with titles like "User Interface Engineer," who feel an ongoing need to justify their places on the company payroll by constantly screwing with stuff.

It's annoying.

That is all.

Wordle 1447 Hint

Hint: You won't need much to solve today's Wordle -- one single piece of information will be enough.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

New to Wordle? You can play it at the New York Times, and here are some thoughts on how I go about solving each day's puzzle.

First Letter: D

Don't Fall For This Scam Like the LNC Did

The Libertarian National Committee called yesterday for a "national state of emergency" over the "national debt."

Meh, for the most part, but then we get to this:

As of the time of this writing, every citizen of the United States of America holds a debt burden of over $106,000 as their share of the national debt.

Nope.

There is no such thing as "the national debt."

There is a debt of "the United States," which is a constitutional term of art for the federal government.

A bunch of politicians borrowed a bunch of money.

In doing so, they promised the lenders that, in the future, they would beat money  out of you to pay the lenders back with interest.

Those politicians don't own you. You or your future earnings aren't theirs to use as collateral. Pointing at you and uttering the word "citizen" doesn't magically cause you to "owe" their creditors so much as one red cent.