Hmm, that is interesting. If I mention something unique inside this blog, it comes up at the top of a search within seconds. This intrigues me because I know very little about search engine optimization (SEO). I read a book on the topic and came away thinking what idiots designed the system. My understanding is these search algorithms are in a constant battle against those who conspire to have their material in the number one position. Since I’ve never done anything to get to the top of any search, the conclusion is that the whole SEO concept is a racket. I got there by writing a lot. If people spent as much writing well instead of trying to trick the system, they might get to first place without the cheating. Blogspot has some weird criteria for selecting their “blogs of note”. I thought you might like to read a quote from one of these blogs that made the A-list.
“My mind is my adversary. It wields too much power over me, too easily breaks me into submission. I hate the shadow it casts over every sunny spot in which I pause to stand awhile. It bickers constantly with me and won’t listen to reason, and I believe that if I dull it, life will be easier. Easier to live, yes, because it was so incapacitating to have these obsessions, these glaringly bright epiphanies shooting off like firecrackers, that…okay, just shut up now. Let’s not get into all that. Best not entertain these thoughts because then they will become encouraged and verified, they will gain confidence and think they can just butt in any old time they want when all I really want is a little peace and quiet.
Now, isn’t that just the finest of material? Hand that man a Pulitzer. He went in the Internet to get a little peace and quiet. I read through the top ten blogs. Most were the same senseless ramblings and I will never understand why the moment women get married, they instantly think the entire universe suddenly becomes insanely interested in their family life. Not that it would do any good, but somebody should tell them.
Meanwhile, of course I only write about the things people want to hear, right? Anyway, today I reviewed a brochure for a women’s nutritional product. I signed a non-competition and non-disclosure agreement, and they sent me two articles to proof-read, one raw, the other finished. I found five errors in the finished article, including repeated words. You know, “Paris in the the spring.” The editor wrote back within the hour saying she was very impressed by my work. Please let this turn into a paying job.
The information I’m processing is heavily scientific details of nutrients, mainly from natural sources. Seaweed, berries, and tree bark. All of a sudden, I’m very glad I looked into all those biology and DNA books a few months back. Biology was never my forte, but I may be getting a crash course. For now, the errors I’m finding are grammar and presentation, matters not concerned with the product, rather how the advertising reads.
Allow me to briefly describe what I’m finding. Even the better colleges these days seem to not emphasize the value of correctness in written English. And not just the atrocious spelling; that would be too easy. I mean the subtle errors that creep into amateur writing, that is, people who write the same way they speak. (Sorry if that hurts, but writing needs to be far more exact.) The mistakes range from hilarious to potentially dangerous. It is clear even journalism students are not being taught the right things, but it is still inexcusable since it was not taught in my day either.
Consider this sentence, “In this century, it will become increasingly harder to find good soil.” How many can even detect the error? (Yet there it is, plain as day—and it was in the very first paragraph of the “perfect” sample they sent.) I know that this very blog has tons of similar miscontructs. But never did I claim this was a work of any precision. Trust me, you have never seen any of my technical material. I once spent forty minutes writing one sentence about a database concern.
veryatlantic veryatlantic this is a test of the google search mechanism
