Mehedi’s Writing

I don’t know the guy. He could be the sweetest, most well intentioned soul on Earth, but his writing skills are terrible. Here’s an example:

Microsoft is today releasing a new build of Redstone 4 to Windows Insiders in the Fast Ring today. Build 17134 is being rolled out to Insiders in the Fast Ring today after delaying the public release of Redstone 4.

This is not an isolated incident. His posts are often littered with redundant sentences and monotonous word selections. We may no longer have the luxury of copy editors (not that they do any good — have you read The Verge lately?), but these college freshman level errors are inexcusable for a respected industry blog!

I hope this feedback is taken in the spirit in which it is given. I want Thurrott to thrive, not become a joke.

Conversation 34 comments

  • AndBingoWasHis

    17 April, 2018 - 12:43 pm

    <p>With all due respect, I think it would be more appropriate to voice your observations privately, rather than on a forum.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      17 April, 2018 - 3:42 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#263485"><em>In reply to AndBingoWasHis:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yeah. That's where I am at as well. </p>

      • Simard57

        18 April, 2018 - 8:07 am

        <blockquote><a href="#263553"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a></blockquote><p>Paul – what is the preferred way to make these private comments? there are three contacts – Email for help/support, contact you or Email advertising team. Perhaps adding a contact for Edits may be good or place an option button on articles.</p><p><br></p><p>we have the luxury of reading these articles at our leisure. you have the challenge of producing content in a fast-paced area and sometimes things get posted that suffer the pace of the business.</p><p><br></p><p>[Sad face 🙁 ]</p><p>Why was this down-voted? I was only asking a simple question and pointing out that our options for private comments were limited to "Contact Paul". how did that offend someone?</p>

        • Paul Thurrott

          Premium Member
          18 April, 2018 - 8:59 am

          <blockquote><a href="#263768"><em>In reply to Simard57:</em></a></blockquote><p>Obviously, contacting help/support or the advertising team makes no sense. :)</p><p><br></p><p>But I do see that we only have a Contact Paul link in that top menu. So we will add a way to click a link to contact the author of each post. For now, Mehedi's email is [email protected]. But we'll get all the authors in the system with links.</p>

  • Mark from CO

    17 April, 2018 - 12:57 pm

    <p>Agree with below. And for what it is worth, I have enjoyed Mehedi's articles. His articles fill in some of the gaps that naturally occur on a web/blog site. I look forward to his future contributions.</p><p><br></p><p>Mark from CO</p>

    • Mike Cramer

      18 April, 2018 - 11:26 am

      <blockquote><a href="#263487"><em>In reply to Mark from CO:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Same here. And besides a few sloppy errors — which I find everywhere on the net — I find Mehedi's writing clear and refreshing.</p>

  • kherm

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2018 - 1:11 pm

    <p>He is <em>Literally </em>a college freshman. Give him a break. </p>

    • KingNerdTheThird

      17 April, 2018 - 2:28 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#263498"><em>In reply to kherm:</em></a></blockquote><p>He's gotta get started somewhere. I'm happy to see him writing on this website and think he's funny on twitter</p><p><br></p>

      • BlackForestHam

        17 April, 2018 - 3:06 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#263528"><em>In reply to KingNerdTheThird:</em></a></blockquote><p>I agree with the original poster. </p><p><br></p><p>Sure, he “has to get started somewhere”, so how about his college newspaper?</p><p><br></p><p>And if Paul (or somebody else) won’t point out his faults — in public — in published pieces, how will he learn?</p>

        • wunderbar

          Premium Member
          18 April, 2018 - 9:31 am

          <blockquote><a href="#263546"><em>In reply to BlackForestHam:</em></a></blockquote><p>How do you know they don't point out errors to him?</p>

        • xperiencewindows

          18 April, 2018 - 1:22 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#263546"><em>In reply to BlackForestHam:</em></a></blockquote><p>He's right. As the Senior News Editor, one would surely expect this not to be happening.</p>

  • evox81

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2018 - 3:31 pm

    <p>I don't know about Thurrott.com… But I can comfortably say these forums have become a joke.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      17 April, 2018 - 3:40 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#263549"><em>In reply to evox81:</em></a></blockquote><p>Which means what?</p>

      • evox81

        Premium Member
        17 April, 2018 - 7:55 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#263551"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a></blockquote><p>Meaning I found the original poster's comment, and the forum (no pun) he chose to voice it in, rude and inappropriate.</p>

        • Paul Thurrott

          Premium Member
          18 April, 2018 - 8:03 am

          <blockquote><a href="#263666"><em>In reply to evox81:</em></a></blockquote><p>I agree with that. Not sure it reflects on the quality of the forums per se.</p>

          • evox81

            Premium Member
            18 April, 2018 - 10:15 am

            <blockquote><a href="#263767"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a></blockquote><p>Agreed. Forgive my poor word choice.</p>

  • Paul Thurrott

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2018 - 3:41 pm

    <p>Constructive criticism is always appreciated. When it comes to typos and spelling/grammar issues, we'd appreciate an email so we can just get that fixed</p>

  • PincasX

    17 April, 2018 - 8:45 pm

    <p>It's a blog, no need to get your knickers in a twist. </p>

  • srtbb

    17 April, 2018 - 9:07 pm

    <p>I think his recent Facebook article about the company doing no wrong with leaking data was what changed my view of his thought process. A follow up article about the comments on it or even a comment on the article comments would have gone a long way.</p>

    • PincasX

      18 April, 2018 - 9:39 am

      <blockquote><a href="#263675"><em>In reply to srtbb:</em></a></blockquote><p>I’m with you on this. I find the lack of critical thinking in the articles here to be far more objectionable than the writing itself. And that includes all the authors not just one. </p>

  • Wolf

    Premium Member
    17 April, 2018 - 9:54 pm

    <p>There are typos and grammatical errors in many of the articles, not just Mehedi's. This isn't unusual in such a fast-paced environment, and doesn't necessarily reflect writing skills.</p><p><br></p><p>So what if a few things get missed in the editing process — this is a blog, not an English class. Personally, I read it for the insight and the content, not for the grammar.</p><p><br></p><p>If you want to complain about writing quality, try reading a newspaper. They're the worst.</p>

    • NextWithoutFor

      18 April, 2018 - 2:35 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#263677"><em>In reply to Wolf:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>We’re talking about Mehedi on Thurrott. The quality of writing on other sites doesn’t justify mediocrity. </p><p><br></p><p>I’ve heard the “fast-pace environment” lame excuse before, and that’s all it is. Take five minutes after three deep breaths to check your work. Read it out loud. Use the draft checking exercises they teach in English 101. </p><p><br></p><p>We are not discussing simple typographical or grammatical errors. Take a look at my example.</p>

  • dcdevito

    18 April, 2018 - 6:51 am

    <p>One thing I never quite understood is….why does it bother you (the reader) so much? </p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      18 April, 2018 - 7:46 am

      <blockquote><a href="#263750"><em>In reply to dcdevito:</em></a></blockquote><p>I find poorly written text difficult to read, especially when the wrong words are used (affect and effect, for example). I find my brain stops on those "wrong" words and I end up re-reading the same part half a dozen times, before I can move on.</p><p>It annoys me with my own writing, I am partially dyslexic and often miss-spell words or miss them out altogether. I often end up editing and re-editing my comments (where I can, some sites don't allow editing, which makes it even worse for me, when I go over the comments again.</p><p>So, I don't blame Mehedi, but the web today, in general, is a difficult place for me to read.</p>

      • boots

        19 April, 2018 - 1:51 am

        <blockquote><a href="#263766"><em>In reply to wright_is:</em></a></blockquote><p>Why do you expect people who comment on the internet to know the difference between affect and effect, when half of them don't know the difference between then and than?</p>

    • NextWithoutFor

      18 April, 2018 - 2:28 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#263750"><em>In reply to dcdevito:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Bad writing leads to cognitive excise for the reader, clouding the message and diminishing the quality of the experience. </p><p><br></p><p>Delivery matters. Period. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • panjjj

    Premium Member
    18 April, 2018 - 4:42 pm

    <p>Perhaps you, as well, are the "sweetest, most well intentioned soul on Earth" but I think you would find your points more well received if the tone was a edited a bit. For example, your statement that, " his writing skills are terrible" might be better phrased this way: "his writing skills need improvement." How about, "I want Thurrott to thrive, not become a joke." changed by dropping the harshness of the prediction to something like wanting to see Thurrott thrive and not be diminished by grammatical errors. I don't think that would diminish your level of concern and might be more likely to help a young writing career without blowing someone's confidence out of the water. I may be slighting the thickness of Mehedi's skin but one thing I find enjoyable about this blog it has a bit of a sense of comradery and that I don't think is served by more strident attacks. Before you respond by telling me not to be a pollyanaish twit it just a thought :}</p>

  • Bats

    18 April, 2018 - 7:54 pm

    <p>WTF would you do this? Are you looking to publicly embarrass and humiliate Meddhi? </p><p>Don't do that! </p><p>Take it privately.</p>

  • generalprotectionfault

    19 April, 2018 - 3:48 am

    <p>I haven't had trouble understanding what Mehedi's points are. Yes there could be a bit more proofreading but he provides value to the site. I didn't realize he was a college freshman – trial by fire. Good for him.</p>

  • MattHewitt

    Premium Member
    19 April, 2018 - 9:11 am

    <p>I graduated with a journalism degree, and one of the first things they taught us was that the majority of Americans can read at an 8th grade level. If you want to write to the broadest audience, you need to write in a conversational tone that most can understand. I think Meh does fine. It's not a hard bar to hit. He understands the material, he writes well enough so that the majority of the people understand. </p><p><br></p><p>I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement. There is for everyone and everything. And typos will always sneak in whether you have zero copy editors or 30. You can't expect someone 1/25 of the experience of Thurrott to write as well as Thurrott does.</p><p><br></p><p>Some things just come with time.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      19 April, 2018 - 9:53 am

      <blockquote><a href="#264196"><em>In reply to MattHewitt:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm starting to see that with US based books. The plots are becoming simpler, the language "younger".</p><p>I read a book a few weeks back "the girl with the lightning brain". It was supposed to be a breakout novel by a professor at a university, so I bought it on spec, hoping it would be interesting – the fly-cover blurb certainly made it sound interesting.</p><p>It had adult themes, but, to me, the writing was "childish". The target audience, from the themes, was adult, but the "level" of writing was aimed at what I would consider a 12 year old reading level. I came away very confused.</p>

  • jwpear

    Premium Member
    26 April, 2018 - 3:32 pm

    <p>Coming at this very late, but FWIW… </p><p><br></p><p>I attribute this to the time he has to get articles published. In my experience, it is easy to make mistakes like that when in a rush. I've learned to put my writing aside and come back at it the next day for a fresh read. I often find many mistakes this way because I can "see" them–it isn't so fresh in my mind that my brain is autocorrecting as I read it. Fortunately, the things I write aren't typically so critical that I must get them out within a matter of minutes or hours of writing them. I often have the luxury of proofing the next day when my mind is fresh.</p><p><br></p><p>My understanding is that Mehedi's primary task is to get short articles out very quickly. He doesn't have a lot of time to put them away and re-read after a break. I'm sure he'd like everything to be perfect, but it is hard to see the errors with the pace of publication and balancing other things. I understand the point most of the time and I'm sure it will improve.</p><p><br></p><p>I see errors in Paul's articles from time to time, but I understand the intent and how those errors were introduced. We've all been there. Paul is an outstanding writer with many years of experience. I'm often amazed, really envious, at how well he conveys his thoughts. And he still makes the occasional mistake. We're all human, I think.</p><p><br></p><p>If Mehedi were writing code that my life depended on and making mistakes, I'd be concerned. In this case, it doesn't seem worth getting too riled up over.</p><p><br></p><p>I appreciate the quick little articles. It's one of the additions I really like. Keep it up Mehedi!</p><p><br></p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      27 April, 2018 - 5:41 am

      <p>Exactly, and, of course, websites today no longer have editors and sub-editors that proofread everything, before it is published, and correct these sorts of mistakes.</p>

  • Hoomgar

    27 June, 2018 - 2:06 pm

    <p>A lot of good points but yes, definitely an issue to take up in private to avoid insulting someone.&nbsp;Use Tact.</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC