Do You Read All The 'Readme's?

[Mr Poltroon]

It has recently come to my attention that my perception of the world may be slightly at odds with reality.

I've always been one to read any and all 'readme's in Software I download onto my PC, but I've been seeing comments around the internet that would suggest people at large do not. Whilst members of this forum do not reflect 'people at large', I would still like to get an impression of how others fare.

[Dergonu]

Unread readme files are probably what I delete the most of on my computer, lol.

[Dreamysyu]

Well, I read them sometimes, when there is a good chance that I'll miss something if I just launch the app. Otherwise, I just skip them.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Dreamysyu

[Kaguya]

If they're like all caps READ THIS BEFORE INSTALLING THE GAME OR IT WON'T WORKKKKKKKK I'll read it

Or if install fails

Otherwise no

[Plk_Lesiak]

I chose "never", which is not precisely true, but is still closer to it than "sometimes". I mean, I must really expect (or experience) some problems to actually look into a Readme file, don't remember the last time when that happened.

[Yuuko]

Sometimes, but when I do they are in Chinese 

[Mr Poltroon]

You're all morally reprehensible.

[Kaguya]

17 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

You're all morally reprehensible.

I mean, if it won't stop the game from working, should I really care about what whoever put it there had to say?

Maybe but I won't. 

[Guest]

What? You people never read them? I always read them, I though that was a common practice...

Psyche, I guess I'm on the minority here. >xoD

[Norleas]

Only when shit is narrow or i don't have clue to what do, but that only  happen in 1% of the cases.

[tahu157]

Yeh, wait for something to go wrong before reading. Otherwise, the likelihood that that readme is only going to tell me licensing information and system requirements is too high for me to want to read every readme I encounter. That said, I do skim every readme I get from github because those are generally very important.

[Arcadeotic]

.txt files are annoying to read so I can't be bothered to.

[mitchhamilton]

54 minutes ago, Arcadeotic said:

.txt files are annoying to read so I can't be bothered to.

desho? i just cant stand reading things. ugh.

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, mitchhamilton said:

i just cant stand reading things. ugh.

[Clephas]

Most of the time, I don't.  The simple reason is that VN readme's are pretty much identical.  I will go back and check them if something goes wrong, but otherwise there is no point.

[Odenvard]

I would say I read most readmes, and that I tend to turn to them as one of the first areas to search for a solution when running into an issue. However, some readmes are basically useless, and sometimes readmes are still in japanese (such as with some fan translations), or some other condition makes the readme unreadable to me. Of course, I actually read documentation and consult search engines to find problems to technical issues on nearly a daily basis, so I doubt I could be considered the norm... Having served as a temporary tech support for some of my friends in the past, I've been exposed to how much a lot of people simply refuse to read, even when doing so would solve their problem in a matter of seconds.

[Mr Poltroon]

1 minute ago, Odenvard said:

I would say I read most readmes, and that I tend to turn to them as one of the first areas to search for a solution when running into an issue. However, some readmes are basically useless, and sometimes readmes are still in japanese (such as with some fan translations), or some other condition makes the readme unreadable to me. Of course, I actually read documentation and consult search engines to find problems to technical issues on nearly a daily basis, so I doubt I could be considered the norm... Having served as a temporary tech support for some of my friends in the past, I've been exposed to how much a lot of people simply refuse to read, even when doing so would solve their problem in a matter of seconds.

To 'read' a readme basically consists of opening it and reading all relevant parts. It's obvious one won't be able to read readmes in other languages and that sections such as the credits are often irrelevant.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

To 'read' a readme basically consists of opening it and reading all relevant parts. It's obvious one won't be able to read readmes in other languages and that sections such as the credits are often irrelevant.

I normally just google translate them to see what funny results I get.

Or I consult a search engine\fuwa tech faq ofc.

[Mr Poltroon]

Well, reading it because I ran into an issue is another matter entirely. In such an occasion I will go out of my way.

I'm rather speaking of just reading them by default before running the thing. Who knows how many secrets may be hidden in the readme? Usually not many.

[Odenvard]

Depends on what kind of readme it is, then. I'd stick by my general estimate of "most readmes", but VNs don't really have much to gain from said readmes. I have played a decent amount of RPG Maker h-rpgs, and translators for those often put important stuff in the readmes, or just make more useful ones. There was one such game that had a "translation notes" of some sort, and I read that. It was interesting to read, at least, and gave me a better understanding of why some parts of the game seemed slightly off in their translation. Basically, I read readmes for pretty much everything, but sometimes I can't read them, and sometimes I get the same information from elsewhere before the readme would have been relevant (such as readmes which are basically just installation instructions), though I suppose I skim even those readmes before realizing their uselessness. Not all readmes are equal, and readmes for pretty much any other sort of software is more important than readmes for VNs.

[Dreamysyu]

8 minutes ago, Odenvard said:

Depends on what kind of readme it is, then. I'd stick by my general estimate of "most readmes", but VNs don't really have much to gain from said readmes.

VNs themselves don't, but when it comes to fan-tanslation patches, then I almost always check them out. There can be some relevant information there about translation, and some patches aren't very easy to install if you don't know what you're doing.

[Ranzo]

BAH!! Next you are going to ask me if I read the manual as well!

 

God I forgot how annoyingly high pitched they all sounded

Edited February 9, 2018 by Ranzo

[Mr Poltroon]

2 minutes ago, Ranzo said:

BAH!! Next you are going to ask me if I read the manual as well!

Hm. I only read the physical ones.

[Kabu]

Only for translation patches really, as those can often be confusing to figure out without someone spelling it out for me.

I do read manuals though as those can often be actually fun to read.