Grammar police's most-wanted: bloggers

A couple of heavyweight bloggers recently had their knuckles rapped over subpar grammar skills. The debate, predictably, turned to, "If people understand what's being communicated, why does it matter?"

Of course, I march with the grammar goon squad on this one. Casual conversation doesn't requite good grammar, true, but writing for a mass audience does. (Copy editors sometimes have to silence their overzealous deskmates with, "Edit copy, not speech!" Even the correctors need a break from correction.)

Puny grammar always makes the writer look bad. If a blogger doles out information that's desperately needed, it’s a lot easier to be forgiving. But when his or her readers have other choices, the smart ones will wander off.

I can sympathize. I slept through grammar in grade school, dropped out of high school and then wrote for a half dozen years using D-student grammar and sloppy spelling. I got away with it because of my sighing editors, who wielded mighty pencils.

Somehow, I ended up teaching incoming journalism students. Motivated by fear of student revolt, I spent a couple of years studying grammar and spelling rules. (This was a lot more fun than it sounds. I have Aspergian traits.)

Before long, I found my writing was greatly improved, not only by the new clarity but by a kind of strength and confidence. Like being a play-by-ear musician and suddenly acquiring the ability to read and write the notes.

It is never too late to learn. I always recommend "The Elements of Style" as a starting point. Killer book, short read. Almost fun.

Send in the clones & desperate bloggers

If you've spent any time seeking advice about blogging you know that a lot of the content out there is either recycled or a variation on well-known themes. Some of the posts you'll read here do that.

This to me is analogous to what happens in, say, fitness magazines and personal-finance publications. There are a couple of dozen topics on which most beginners need or want information. Those stories are presented with new graphics, new headlines and come from new writers. Maybe they contain updated information, but they're part of the playbook. Same with evergreen content for more advanced readers. Most readers don't mind the repetition unless they're outgrown the publication.

This partly explains why the Wall Street Journal always carries a piece on something odd like ferret-legging contests on page 1.

I have learned a great deal from some of the blog pros' blogs, such as Dosh Dosh, ShoeMoney and ProBlogger. These guys do a great job; they are rewarded with swarms of traffic and comments. But they, too, tend to repeat themselves.

The blog pros are in the same boat as, say, Money or Men's Health. If people come to you seeking tentpole knowledge but you're off working in the fringes, that's not good sense or good business. In writing, this dynamic would be be called elegant substitution -- variety for the sake of variety. Fortunately, on the Internet, there's almost always something new to talk about. I do, however, see a lot of the same material over and over in all of these blog blogs. The trick is to find new ways of doing older things.

This brings me to a post on BloggingMix.com: "Guilty or Not? Are You a Desperate Blogger?" I love this topic and the direct way it's presented. Its issues are frequently debated, but to me the headline and post felt fresh and original. I went right for it, passing by a pack of links to familiar stories.

Anyway, let's get to the content.: Here are some of the nine signs of desperation from blogger RJ Tayaban along with a sentence or two taken from his comments:

1. Fake your own comment(s) and use positive feedback: If you haven't received comments from your readers, perhaps it's about time that you reflect on your writing skills, styles or even the topic you blog about.


2. Create numerous accounts with digg, reddit and delicious then submit and vote your own post: ... I don't create multiple accounts and use it to vote for my own submissions. This is kind of 'losserish.' ... I personally believe that it's ethical for bloggers to submit and book mark their post with digg, reddit, delicious, netscape, sphinn etc. This is an effective way to reach more readers.


3. Steal concepts and ideas from other bloggers: ... The most despiteful manifestation of desperation. If you don't have anything to blog, then don't blog.

My take:

1. Faking comments may be effective since no one wants to be first at a party. I don't do it, but I do ask my friends to comment once in a while on specific topics that suit them.

2. I agree with RJ: Waiting around for people to share your content on the social net sites won't get you anywhere when your blog is new. My standard is, The post should be on-topic for the site, it should bring clear value, and the blurb and headline should be truly reflective of the original post's content. Also, be sure to participate in that community, vote on other posts and bring in other people's content.

3. Ditto.

Most of us are scrambling for attention (traffic) and success (money or however you define it). The temptations are many and the ethical guidelines are, well, being written. This is a medium for existentialists.

Update 8/20: Dosh Dosh just posted a related piece about "meta blogging" and all the repetition.