Sure, I am hardly a model of linguistic integrity when it comes to blog posts, but I'm not getting paid to write for Gizmodo, Engadget, Jalopnik, WoW Insider, Lifehacker, or any one of the multitude of ad-supported blogs I read daily. If you are paid to write an article for a crporate site, this should be no different than a writing assignment for a magazine or newspaper. And even worse, if you ARE a commercial site, and my eyeballs rack up your ad impression dollars, you owe it to me to spend even a small modicum of effort editing your own work!
It has been getting particularly bad in the last year or so; this month has been simply atrocious. One of th aforementioned blogs made a post a couple weeks ago, with tips for being a good commenter. one of the tips amounted to, "Enough with the snarky spelling mistake comments! Yeah, sure, we know you want to be the first to point out a mistake, but were only human beings, and were under a huge crunch to write 100 posts every day for you, so lay off!"
NO. No, I'm sorry, but that is NOT a defense. 100 posts? Oh my, you poor people, your whole staff has to labor tirelessly to cut-and-paste press releases and regurgited posts from OTHER blogs, and add one or two lines of witty and unoriginal spin. That must be so exhausting! How about writing 90, or 80, or hell, 50 posts a day, and editing them first? The Boston Globe doesn't seem to have a problem, and that fucker is like 400 pages an issue these days.
Show your readers respect. Hire an editor. This is not negotiable.
Comics have been pretty bad, too. Now don't get me wrong, I am so thrilled that the web gives a cheap, easy way for comic artists with, let us say, off the beaten path ideologies to distribute their stuff to like-minded fans. I grew up loving the Boston Globe comics, but Ive tried reading them again lately and I realized just how derivative, unfunny and lacking in any sort of original thought they really are. Seriously, has Marmaduke, Garfield or Cathy done ANYthing original since Regan was president? Aside from Dilbert and Zippy, I couldnt find anything remotely amusing. And I'll be the first to admit that those are hardly appealing to a broad demographics.
Which is why the internet is so fucking great- I can read comics about D&D, Tech jobs, video gaming, Python programming and otaku; comics that would never, EVER find an audience in a mainstream media outlet.
But theres a downside as well: it seems to me that just because anyone CAN publish a comic on the internet, doesnt mean they should. I would use the word artist reluctantly for over half the comics I read- I'm not expecting everything to look like MegaTokyo, but far too many people think that all they need is a geeky punchline and stick figures to get by. I'm looking at you, XKCD... Abstruse Goose... Cheer Up Emo Kid... Cyanide & Happiness... Order of the Stick.. and the list goes on...
How about some of you funny guys with no drawing talent hook up with some artists who have no sense of humor and you BOTH get famous? That's how comics have workd for 100 years... you think Jai Lee or Alex Ross can write a story to save his life?
In conclusion, internet: shape up. I deserve better.
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Comments
What's really bothered me lately is the total laxness inherent in online profiles. I'm on a bunch of networking or dating websites and it just appalls me how many people have "I'll fill this out later"(and never do) or a bunch of generic crap or total cop-outs "It's hard to talk about myself!). Why are you on a social website if you're going to put bare-bones effort into elaborating about yourself? What do you possibly have to gain.
I also read a LOT of music review websites, mostly for metal, and without going off on a huge rant, the quality has definitely diminished. Even just 2-3 years ago, Blabbermouth would have in-depth articles about upcoming concert tours, albums, dvds etc, and these days it just seems like an excuse to shill whatever product is funding them that day.