Moths to the Flame

From Allen Mercier, Senior Editor, Palio

Have you ever considered a world without copy editors? I guarantee that most people give little thought to who’s responsible for crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s in whatever they happen to be reading. So what do you get when no thought is given to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and accuracy? Well, on the Web you get comments on articles or videos. And as we all know, “comments” are often unfiltered attacks.

Flaming, the official name for these online attacks, is everywhere. No one seems to agree on anything or to be shy about starting a flame war over nothing. The flame that always gets my attention is the spell-check attack. Whenever a comment has a misspelling, it’s sure to draw moths to the flame. So, the flame goes, your argument has no merit (and you’re an #%$%*@#) because you didn’t use “your” correctly.

So, we have simple spelling mistakes that ostensibly lead to vitriolic attacks. But we all know better than that. Editing is about clarity, not flame wars that just cloud the discussion.

Would the Internet be a more civil place if there were a copy editor in every computer? Probably not, but there would definitely be fewer typos.

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.