If a web app pops a well written error it is much more likely to be acted on than an unmotivated dev seeing a some (probably badly formatted) text.
Every time I see an error in terminal with a link to documentation I'm delighted. And surprised.
> Hi! If you're reading this message, it's likely because this tool failed your build. To understand why and fix it, please click this link <link_to_internal_doc>. Below is a table that lists the packages you need to update and the version you need to update them to.
The doc had at the very top in big flashing red text with siren anigifs a link to the portion that explained that they needed to update their libraries with very clear copy-paste-into-Dockerfile actionable guidance. The page also explained the broader context, such as the point of the tool and why we were doing this despite having a firewall and so on.
This is where you might be delighted and surprised.
What was perhaps less delightful and surprising were the consequences for me. About 4-6 times a week, I would then have a Slack conversation akin to this:
Dev: Why did you break my build!?!
Me: Can I see the error message?
Dev: <pastes message above>
Me: Thanks! Looking at the message, is there something unclear about the documentation? Does it not work?
<ten minutes pass>
Dev: Nope! Docs are great!
Are you wrong for skipping documentation? Yea, maybe. Is it entirely expected? Yea.
Based on the parent comment, at least.
What could it be? Why do people read things and react in similar ways, even if they have different jobs? If only there was some field of study that could answer these mysteries.