Idea: Most tutorials teach you the right way to do something. But when you're new to a program, you dont 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 dont align.
Tagline:
Learn from everyones bad instincts including your own.-- Thrust, Jul 26 2025 Right map _22Right_22_20mapAn 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 random, halfbakery