Computer: Database
Do-It-Wrong Database   (+6)  [vote for, against]
Every app has that one thing beginners do wrong over and over. I propose a global, searchable database of common mistakes — not how-to guides, but how-not-to.

Idea: Most tutorials teach you the right way to do something. But when you're new to a program, you don’t make just one mistake — you make the same ones that everyone else does.

This is a proposal for a shared database that focuses not on what to do, but what people always do wrong. A reverse manual, a museum of misclicks, a guide to getting frustrated exactly like everyone else before you.

Example (Unity): I wanted to open a scene. So I dragged the scene file into the hierarchy window — that looks right, right? Wrong. Unity treats that as adding a scene object into the current scene. What I should have done: double-click the scene file in the Project view.

A small difference, but a major "why-is-this-not-working" moment.

More examples:

Photoshop: Drag image onto canvas → It creates a smart object. User: "Why can't I edit this!?"

Excel: Typing 1+1 and hitting enter. "Why didn't it calculate?"

Git: Doing git push --force on main because "it said there was a conflict and I just wanted it gone."

The vision:

A crowdsourced, searchable “Do It Wrong” archive.

Entries list:

The wrong action The expected result The actual (weird or silent) result The correct action

A short explanation of why the wrong one seemed right

Optional plug-ins for IDEs or programs that pop up gentle reminders when you repeat a classic mistake.

Why it's useful:

Beginners get reassurance that others have made the same mistake.

Saves hours of banging your head against the keyboard.

Shows how interface expectations and user logic often don’t align.

Tagline:

Learn from everyone’s bad instincts — including your own.
-- Thrust, Jul 26 2025

Right map _22Right_22_20map
An idea that is similar [chronological, Jul 26 2025]

It's a bit too sensible for me.
-- xenzag, Jul 26 2025


My Facebook has videos of beginners doing something and then a professional doing it.

I had a similar idea called "right map" I added it as a link. It is about creating maps of right things. And learning from what works.
-- chronological, Jul 26 2025


I would suggest that you have discovered an important feedback path to let the app designers know about flaws in their user interface.
-- pocmloc, Jul 27 2025



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