The penultimate coupon whore points us to the Blog Readability Test. What level do readers have to be to understand your blog?
Weeklyrob scored as “Elementary School,” which I’m guessing is the lowest possible. I checked the blogs of friends of mine, and they all scored anywhere from “Junior High” to “Genius.”
Now, I don’t want to seem bitter, but what the hell? Check out some prose from a little further down the page:
“Some conservatives have accused universities of unfair hiring practices, while others have suggested that conservative thinkers avoid academia due to an environment that’s hostile to their political opinions.”
And
“I have previously seen workers mopping the floor, shakings hands with customers, receiving and dispensing cash, and doing all manner of germ transacting without bothering to take off the now colonized latex disease-spreaders.”
Show me an elementary student who knows what a now colonized latex disease-spreader is.
Bah.
Of course, as the writer, I guess that I should be happy that I’m easy to understand.
But I’m not happy! I want readers to be at GENIUS level, like those at Hogswallowing. Or at LEAST high school, like The Daily Bacon. I mean, come on!
I’m thinking you nailed it re: my blog’s rating. I read somewhere when I was researching what these readability tests analyize, and it appears you should aim for junior high-high school levels so you are readable to a wider audience. That’s why even the NY Times front page is slummin’ it with a Junior High level.
I think your readability is a reflection of the fact that you are actually a writer, and one who is often tasked with explaining complicated things to a self-selected audience of people who do not understand complicated things. You have extremely clear syntax and therefore get your point across without strain or misdirection. This are very good things!
But I still hate your blog because it won’t let me correct my comments. I meant to type “These”.
Kevin, you misspelled “I meant to do that”.
Thanks for the compliment, Kevin. Still, I’m gonna start throwing around come really complex sentences, just for kicks.
Even better than readability: The Stupid Filter! http://stupidfilter.org/demo.php
I saw this in today’s WSJ and it reminded me of this post. I’m waiting for Professional Edition that connects to your work e-mail account.
Looks like a fun idea, but I couldn’t get it to do anything. Took too long. Oh well.