Caroline McCarthy a NY-beat reporter for CNET gets on Arrington’s case over typos in the name “BitTorrent.” This has gotta be a slow news day for the CNET folks. Here’s Arrington’s response for the curious. I met Caroline a few months back, and I liked her, so I’ll cut her a break.
But there is a bigger story here than cross-blog snipes…
I have received the same criticism for my unfiltered and grammar-error-riddled content from time to time (less from CNET and more from friends and family). I think that rough content is part of the allure of blogs. A blog post should not be taken as unbiased, totally sanitized, copy-edited, sources-checked fact. On the contrary, that’s why most blogs are so great: they’re raw, unedited opinions that typically cut through bullshit and get right to the story (and often, like in the BitTorrent case, scoop the story). Typos like those in Arrington’s piece on BitTorrent come with the territory of being unfiltered.
The comments on blogs are even better! They don’t have to setup a story or build a point over a paragraph or two. Comments are often two lines of pure gold: content-rich, unfiltered opinions that get right to the point and often deliver previously unseen insight. I’d love to see a good execution in comment aggregation to effectively search this high signal-to-noise-ratio source.
Anyway, I don’t apologize when people find my content rough, and I appreciate it when I find rough content elsewhere. I really hope that as old media continues to shed traditions in favor of new media practices they also learn to appreciate the value of unfiltered posts.
I’m certainly a blog neophyte but am quickly beginning to appreciate the “cut through bullshit,” “content rich,” and “get right to the point” traits of many blogs. But what better way to get right to the point and deliver truly content-rich, concise opinions than to use precise language (syntax and grammar)? By all means, some style, a little flair, and appropriate poetic license will likely not only make your (and my) writing more fun but also better suited to communicating that which we so desire. But perhaps execution with a full appreciation for fundamental S and G would get right to the point even more efficiently, concisely, or with more entertainment than a pure, raw post? I certainly appreciate the value of “the raw” and the flexibility of language (and think that utilizing both suits some new media). But don’t forget to appreciate the awesome power of language in its highest form.
P.S. It took me approximately 28 minutes to craft this reply.
Your point is well taken. I am coming from a rather subjective opinion: Well polished blogs that have copy editors (like that of CNET) are inherently filtered and less genuine. If you are a great writer by nature and have mastered spelling and grammar such that you can execute perfectly on the fly, then more power to you. But, if you’re not so lucky, I think it’s better to remain unfiltered than to worry about arbitrary grammar and spelling issues (as long as your errors are not so egregious that they cloud your meaning).
Good comment.
“Comments are often two lines of pure gold: content-rich, unfiltered opinions that get right to the point and often deliver previously unseen insight.”
I’m a bit skeptical about the value of unfiltered opinions. There’s just too much crap out there because of the low barrier to posting a comment. Now, this of course varies from community to community or blog to blog, but I’d say *some* amount of filtering, whether it be social (viewing your friends’ comments) or collaborative (via some rating system), is helpful.
I’d agree, especially social filtering. The comment aggregation solution I am hoping to find some day would have to have some element of human/social filtering. In the context of the line you quoted, “unfiltered” means: “not filtered by a copy editor or other system of approval.” I hope that helps clarify my point.
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