A user error is an error made by the human user of a complex system, usually a computer system, in interacting with it. Although the term is sometimes used by Human Computer Interaction practitioners, the more formal human error term is used in the context of human reliability.
User Error and related phrases such as PEBKAC ("Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair" and the complementary PEBCAK ("Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard")), PICNIC ("Problem In Chair Not In Computer"), PIBCAK ("Problem Is Between Chair And Keyboard") or ID-10T error ("Idiot error") are also used as slang in technical circles with similar potentially derogatory meaning. This usage implies a lack of computer savvy, asserting that problems arising when using a device are the fault of the user. Critics of the term argue that the problems are caused instead by a device designed in such a way that it induces errors.
The term can also be used for non-computer-related mistakes.
Read more about User Error: Reasons For User Errors, Acronyms and Other Names For A User Error
Famous quotes containing the words user and/or error:
“A worker may be the hammer’s master, but the hammer still prevails. A tool knows exactly how it is meant to be handled, while the user of the tool can only have an approximate idea.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“Mistakes are a fact of life
It is the response to error that counts.”
—Nikki Giovanni (b. 1943)