No doubt as a technical writer you’ve heard the phrase, “No one reads the help anyway.” They let out a small chuckle to indicate that they’re only kidding, although deep down they’re being totally serious. Many people believe help files are almost insignificant except to a small percentage of people.

But the next time you hear someone say, “No one reads the help anyway,” say, “Yah, no one uses Google either.”

This will lead to a puzzling follow-up question — What do you mean? I use Google all the time.

Then you say, What do you use Google for? To search for answers, solutions, and information when you have questions?

Google is one large help file.

Update Jan 2008: I updated my thoughts on this post with some new reflections.