In my reading of situations like this, the best model is problems in 
the Real World... from flight delays to product recalls and it goes 
like this: In the absense of actual information, people will make up 
much worse and disastrous stories than you've ever dreamed were 
possible, given what you know to be the relatively trivial nature of 
the actual issue. Control the story yourselves, therefore, by 
providing information.

The problem with the link suggested by Heather is simply that people 
aren't getting the information until they've encountered the problem 
and only if they're motivated to go look for it, rather than leaving. 
(You don't need to know what the message means if you just go 
elsewhere.) That doesn't sound particularly ameliorative to me. In 
your place (not having full knowledge here of the situation, etc.) I 
would probably just put a two line explanation at the beginning of 
any forms and sell it as a benefit: "This site/form remains secure 
even in the event of an expired certificate. Any information you 
enter here is protected."

Katie


At 5:41 PM -0700 9/18/08, heather gardner-madras wrote:
>I agree with your director that it shouldn't be in the navigation or
>anywhere prominent on the site but agree with you that users will feel much
>better if they know what's going on.
>
>One way to split the difference, and I think provide a good user experience
>for both groups would be to add a link on the form or forms that will run
>into this called "Seeing strange messages? Here's what they mean"
>Which leads to your explanatory page.

-- 
Katie Albers, Senior Director
Web-Based Services
Mary-Margaret Network
Find.  Grow.  Work.  Play.
+1 310 356 7550 (voice)
+1 877 662 3777 x 709
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http://www.mary-margaret.com

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