12 Worst Insertions Inside Articles and Reviews
Submitted by Jeimisbondis on Saturday 9th of February 2008 11:23:42 AM
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Everyone likes a top list. This one can make people hate them, after all writers do not like critics. This is less a top list than an advice. Please, do not occur in the same mistake listed here. Everytime I started to read a review or article I ask myself how many of these annoying inserts I will find.
The top twelve most annoying insertions inside a review are, in other of annoyance:
1. Apt-get install something
YES, the world does not revolves around the sun, just around the Debian/Ubuntu based distributions. Perhaps before include apt-get anything remember those hundreds distributions that do not use apt-get.
2. The same but for other package manager and make install
One of worst error people input to beginners is the use of make install. DO NOT ever use make install. You have to build a package to control your system. So, apt-get is the worst, make install and other manager commands follow it.
3. Where I found the source?
Most apt-get fans forget to add where to find the source. Source is important.
4. Sudo what?
Do NOT use sudo everytime. Only root can have total control of the system, before try use sudo, learn more about the command and test as root. Do not add sudo command lines to your article as well. Sudo does not make
your system more secure.
5. Something is wrong... bad system... bad system
Sometimes if something is wrong the fault is yours and not of the system. Try understand what happens before start to blame the system, perhaps you are not using it well. Also try to search if the bug or problem is known and if there is a solution.
6. Personal opinions
Personal opinions are almost necessary to all articles, but they most apper like personal opinion. Add a line "In my personal opinion..." when it's the case... Do not use "All Linux most have..."
7. Something is missing
This is mostly applied to livecds. Of course something is missing, they are small system, try see if the missing feature can be included by downloading a package.
8. Everybody loves, I will too
You have your own voice. Do not start to tell the world you like something only because most like it. If something is wrong, tell about and do not hide it. It's not about fasion, it's not about be like others.
9. Community
Community is importante, but you must consider the job of the developer team. Community can help but cannot be
guilty about anything around the system or application, aside the fact it can be annoying defending it. If during write your article some member of the community treats you not well, explain it was not an attack from who really works in the development.
10. Gnome versus Kde
Try not be part of the Kde against Gnome war. When you write a review about a Gnome/Kde application, do not try make the similar of the other desktop environment a bad choice.
11. The article does not finish the job
The world will be a good place if some of the critics could help to solve the issues. After write an article, or even before, try be part of the problem, try collaborate to solve the issues you found, then try add some comments about solutions you got later.
12. All the world, but developers
If you write an article about an application or distribution, let the developer team know about it. The article can help them to solve and understand their work better. It's nice read comments of the developers when we read an article.
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12 annoyances in articles
Well, thanks for the input, it's nice to know what annoys readers, but I have a problem with some of your statements.
One in particular I'd like to address is the Add a line "In my personal opinion..." when it's the case... Do not use "All Linux most have..."
That goes against one of the core rules of writing. It is poor form to use "In my personal opinion" or "In my opinion." I'm writing the article so of course it's my opinion - who else's would it be? It's one of the first things we are taught.
...Not that I haven't ever used it, but I know it's amateurish. It's a qualifier. It gets you off the hook. Cuts down on the negative and abusive comments sometimes. If someone uses that phrase, it usually signals uncertainty or potential controversy ahead.
You're right about the use of the sentence
You're right about the use of the sentence. It's not exactly what I meant. Not the use of the sentence, but the idea behind it. Your opinion is always personal and the person behind an article, before start to write, must understand that. Sometimes who is writing the review wishes to input an idea or opinion as an universal and unique true, that can be very annoying.
PS.01. I like a lot your reviews and articles. You are not lazy to try and test every aspect before write the review.
PS.02. There are several articles written just after few minutes using an application or distribution. Another annoyance.
An Example...
Just an example. I was searching for a small and good wireless interface when I found a review of Wicd. I started to read and then the annoyance #1 appeared.. 'apt-get install blablabla'... I continued read about how Wicd is a simple, small and nice interface, but when I went to Wicd website I found it has a lot of dependencies. It can be a good interface, but the fact the writer used 'apt-get install' and forgot to say Wicd depends on Python, Dbus-python, Pygtk, PyObject and Pycairo, turned me off.
PS.03. List the dependencies when write about an application is very nice.