Cretinism in Market Research 

Microsoft seems to be out to survey its users about everything and anything. First I got a mail last week asking me to rate their products that I use, and today, while I was using the Live Maps to show people where I've spent the previous week (Google Maps shows a horribly wrong place), a pop-up pops up asking me to take a survey about map sites in general and the Live one in particular. Silly me, I agreed.

It was mostly the usual thing. Which map sites you know about and use and what for, what do you think of this feature or that. One thing poked me in the eye, though... Now, I can understand that it's important for a company to know if their search site allows the users to 'easily find the information that [they are] looking for', or if it has 'ease of use/good layout and design' or 'accuracy and relevancy of search results'. When it comes to maps and areal photos, I can even understand 'fun and entertaining'. But among those I saw these two: 'gives me a sense of control and safety' and 'gives me a sense of enrichment and accomplishment'. That was the WTF moment.

Control and safety? Enrichment and accomplishment? What in the rotten carrot's name were they asking me about? A yoga class? A psychoactive substance? Or a map site? What the hell do these advertising types think, that users experience orgasms or have divinely-inspired visions when they visit search sites?

Carrot, I hate corp-speak... I hate buzzwords... And above all, I hate stupidity.