I KNEW IT – Genius Level Ain’t Bad
Wednesday
Jan 9, 2008
Seth Godin understands me, without knowing it. He recently made a post about dumbing down to reach the average.
The thing is, when you dumb stuff down, you know what you get?
Dumb customers.
Too true! I recently made a post myself about my blog ranking at a Genius Level reading ability. I pondered whether or not it was a good thing, since the Melissa Donovan’s post (where I first saw the quiz) was proposing that it was good to rank lower so more people could understand you.
But that’s not how I write. It’s not the type of people who appreciate my writing. So why should I “dumb down” what I write in order to reach the average middleman? That was my stance, and I don’t mind saying that I feel justified that a major blogger like Seth sees things my way.
One of the comments on my previous blog noted that you should write the way you speak when blogging. That opens up the conversation. I completely agree with that, and the thing is… I do speak this way. Which is why I write this way. I need not apologize for my love of grammar and syntax!
Genius Level… Is it such a bad thing?
Thursday
Dec 20, 2007
In catching up with my Google Reader subscriptions I see a post on Writing Forward about the reading level of one’s blog. This little widget allows for a nice bridge into writing for the broadest audience possible. In my infinite curiosity, I went and had this blog analyzed.
Is this really a bad thing? Blog author Melissa Donovan seems to think so:
Writers who use big words and fancy phrases will not reach the broadest audience possible, and in fact, will turn many potential readers away. Who wants to expend a whole lot of energy to decipher a short story or understand a blog post? When a writer tries to come off as brilliant by using complex language, the effort usually outshines the material.
Personally I’m not so sure it’s a bad thing to exhibit my intelligence. I wouldn’t say that I write in a manner that excludes people… I’m pretty sure that anyone I know could chime in and join the conversation. And I don’t know many geniuses. So what is it about a post that makes the reading a genius level read? I’m very curious what standards this particular website is using on making that assessment.
Thoughts? Do I need to dumb this down, so to speak?
