Microsoft's patterns & practices group conducted a survey that indicates a significant gap between the patterns expert community and the software practitioners attempting to use and leverage patterns in their daily work. As this gap widens, it will lead to an irreversible divide between the two communities, and patterns will fail to deliver their potential. Drawing on the authors' experience using patterns to package development guidance as well as input from practitioners using patterns, the article analyzes the key causes of this gap and recommends a set of actions aimed at pattern users in general and the patterns community in particular. Bridging this gap will dramatically improve practitioners' understanding of patterns and their ability to leverage them as the patterns expert community envisions. This article is part of a special issue on software patterns.