PEBKAC
acronymops culture
Stands for: problem exists between keyboard and chair
Helpdesk code for 'the problem exists between keyboard and chair': the user.
Alongside siblings like the ID-10T error (read it aloud) and PICNIC (problem in chair, not in computer), PEBKAC let support staff diagnose the human in front of witnesses. Modern usability doctrine inverted the verdict: if enough users hit the same wall, the wall is the defect, and 'user error' usually names a design that invited it. The acronym survives as both a joke and a confession about how systems used to blame their operators.
Also known as: ID-10T error, PICNIC