Was This Helpful? I Hope Not!
When I began writing for AC three years ago, a star system was in place to indicate what readers thought of an article. Each article started out with a default of three stars and the number of stars would adjust up or down depending on how readers-if so moved-rated the article. Readers could give a maximum of five stars and a minimum of one star. This system could be either uplifting or damaging to the old ego depending on which way the star level went. A 4.5 and you were feeling pretty damn good about yourself-a 1.5 had you reading and re-reading your article to try to figure out what the hell those idiots were missing!
Part of the problem with the star system was that it was sometimes not writing ability, but rather subject matter that affected your score. As a humorist, a majority of my writing scored pretty well, but if I wrote a political humor piece-which I do from time-to-time-my star rating was often below the 3-star default. Apparently those damn Republicans just didn't see the humorous side of George W. Bush choking on a pretzel and smashing his face on a table. I'm smiling right now thinking about it.
To alleviate some of the negativity, AC changed from the star system to a simple "Recommend" button. If the reader liked your article, he or she could click that button and hopefully you would see your recommend total grow. This system, at least, did not produce the same "Do I really suck that bad?" feelings the star system did.
But now AC has come up with yet another system for readers to rate your article with just one easy click. A "WAS THIS HELPFUL?" button complete with a "Thumbs Up" image appears above each article.
As a humor writer, I can assure you that none of my articles are terribly helpful to anyone in any way, nor are they intended to be. Although my dear friend Maria Roth said in a comment on my latest article that she clicked the "WAS THIS HELPFUL?" button because "it was very helpful in brightening my day." Thanks Maria, I'll take it! But I recently received the following comment on an article I wrote months ago titled Kansas and Kenya: What Are They and Where Did They Come From?
I am honestly looking for the reason why Kansas is called Kansas. Thanks for nothing, you big jerk.
Posted on 10/01/2009 at 9:10:35 AM
As you can see, this poor fellow didn't find my article helpful at all, although I was able to get him to realize I am a "big jerk."
So it is obvious that AC needs to take this whole thing a step further and come up with more detailed, genre-specific buttons. And being the helpful kind of guy I am, I have a few suggestions...
For humor articles, how about "DID YOU LOL OR LMAO?" or "ARE YOU ROFL?" buttons? Maybe a more specific one like "DID YOU WET YOURSELF?" would be even better. Or if the reader finds the content of the article tasteless, an "ARE YOU OFFENDED?" button would be appropriate. I'm pretty sure I'd get a lot of those. And believe me I'd be damn proud of that!
Political opinion pieces should come accompanied by buttons such as, "DOYOU WANT TO PAINT A HITLER MUSTACHE ON THE PHOTO OF THE SOCIALIST WHO WROTE THIS?" or, coming from the other side, "DO YOU THINK THE WRITER IS A BIGGER ASSHOLE THAN RUSH LIMBAUGH?"
I find a lot of poetry beautiful, but if you are confused by the message of a particular poem-as I often am-you might want to be able to click a button that simply asks, "HUH?"
You're reading a sports article and you are as tired of hearing about the same self-centered athletes as I am. You're probably wishing there was a "DO YOU HATE BRETT FAVRE?" or "WOULD YOU BE HAPPY IF TERRELL OWENS SWALLOWED HIS TONGUE?" button to click.
The "WAS THIS HELPFUL?" button works perfectly for How-To articles, but suppose the writer has no idea what he or she is talking about? Suppose you are an expert on the subject and this "how-to" article is not at all accurate? Clicking "WAS THIS A PILE OF CRAP?" would be a good way to warn other readers that they could die of electrocution if they follow step 5.
I could probably go on-and-on with button ideas, but I have a feeling if any of the people at AC get a look at this, they will add just one button to every one of my articles:
"DELETE"
Published by Frank Mucci
A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive for 2010, Frank likes to make up crap about himself. He will be honored later this year with the Nobel Prize for Literature. View profile
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43 Comments
Post a CommentThis was.....helpful. Great article!
LOL and LMAO.
Loved it! Maybe you could work into one of your articles how funny it is for AC to solicit an article about brontosaurus and specify that it be written based on PERSONAL EXPERIENCE... Pretty ludicrous, I would say unless AC has some very, very old contributors.
Funny stuff. But let's not give Brett his own button. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
YOu are one funny man Frank! I loved it. Helpful? Don't know but definitely a LMAO kinda button.
this made me laugh today. thanks.
Clicking the imaginary LOL button...
...Then there's dummies like me who were wondering where the little recommend feature went, and never even noticed the huge "was this helpful" box until I read yours and Maria's article!
Fun read! I, too, wondered about the wording on that button. There's a lot of stuff on AC that isn't helpful at all, but still a lot of fun to read!
Let's see if I can click the "Was this helpful?" button yet again...Yes! Gosh, I LOVE that thing! I think I've left you as many comments on this article as Don left on mine. ;)