Talk:Ruby slippers

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Wow! Thanks for the picture, Hephaestos. How'd you get these puppies in the article so fast? :-) --Uncle Ed 22:21 Mar 20, 2003 (UTC)

[edit] There is no such thing as a "Ruby Slippers Effect"

Software engineers sometimes refer to the ruby slippers effect whereby a program provides a valuable feature overlooked by its user.

I've never heard an engineer use this phrase. Far more likely they would say the feature was serendipitous, a bonus, or even an artifact. Possibly even a fortunate happenstance. (A line delivered by the Star Trek TNG character, Minuet in episode... ???)

The only examples of ruby slippers effect on Google (approx 140 at this time) are quotes from this Wikipedia article. A seach of Lexis/Nexis, (while hardly thorough) has not revealed ANY occurrences of this phrase in the media.

Nor has a search of INSPEC, an accademic search engine focusing on the literature of physics and computer science. INSPEC offers a worldwide scope on scientific and technical literature. It includes 4000 scientific and technical journals and some 2000 conference proceedings, as well as numerous books, reports, and dissertations. The phrase is also not found via IEEE Xplore, a search engine of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) publications.

Although it only takes one occurence to prove this phrase is in use, if this phrase is being used, it is not in widespread use by the community.

Can anyone find even ONE occurrence of this phrase in the wild???

Given the above seems to be true, I see no reason that line should remain in the article. I'll delete it. --woggly 05:40, 19 July 2006 (UTC)