Good and poor examples of readable content

When it comes to good vs poor readable content it can be up to the eye of the beholder but poor readable content can happen when the writer falls under the curse of knowledge…meaning that they are assuming that the reader understand the topic as well as they do but there are cases were there just isn’t enough research done by the reporter/writer. For example an article by Amanda Arnold from Yahoo states that it may take Joshua Tree 300 Years to Recover From the Government Shutdown. In article it informs the reader that human waste piled up, lands were littered with trash, and some campgrounds and other public areas were even closed to visitors, as the parks weren’t adequately staffed to stay open. There isn’t any details to why it may take hundreds of years for the park to recover and what could be done to restore the park. This made the article lacking in my opinion because unless you a park ranger it would be hard to figure out why a lot of the damage cannot be undone in a timely manner.

Readable content to me is content that anyone can be picked up and read without having any knowledge on the subject. One website which has good readable content is Cracked. One article written by Eamon Rafi explain what his childhood was like living with a parent that was a hoarder. What make it good readable content is that it had meaningful sub-headings and has a one idea per paragraph format. This allows the subject to be broken down to bite sized chucks for the reader which keeps their attention. Another thing is the writer was able to write about the topic in a way that most reader would understand…if you didn’t know what a hoarder was you will after reading his post. Also he brings an emotional tone, speaking about the shame that never leaves you as a child of a hoarder and how You Are Constantly Worried About Becoming A Hoarder Yourself.

When judging each article based on the principles that are written in On Writing Well by Willman Zinsser. I noticed that Eamon Rafi’s article hit a note with me because you can almost feel the hardships he went through. While Amanda Arnold’s piece just seem like a task that was assigned by management.  When it comes to simplicity both writings equally avoid clutter but it should be noted that the Yahoo piece was relativity short in comparison. Finally when it comes to style the writer from Cracked was able to create a piece that was able to have a snarky sense of humor, while the one by Yahoo came off generic.  Both writings have their pros and cons but again I stand with my main point that Rafi has the best readable content of the two.