31 A Fairy, a Lowfat Bagel, and a Sack of Axes

Reminds me of another article

“And when everything was set … they had someone find a writer to fill in the blank spaces with words.”

Only it wasn’t a writer, was it? It was Larry, from marketing, with the candlestick in the board room.

Please don’t consider the writing articles on A List Apart just for the web. Zombies have been around since before truth-in-advertising laws, when the Internet was a twinkle in Al Gore’s eyes. For best results, apply anti-fluff to all written media.

posted at 01:39 pm on November 2, 2005 by Michael Smith

32 Irony in Definition

I just got done with a discussion about using “Value Added Services” in our site’s main nav. I was given this link to a definition of VAS (http://www.mobilein.com/what_is_a_VAS.htm) and the first item that describes Value Added Services reads:

“Not a form of basic service but rather adds value total service offering”

I just had to laugh and grab my ax…

posted at 07:15 pm on November 2, 2005 by Greg Burghardt

33 Strongly reminiscent...

of the Transitive Vampire. Which is [i]high[/i] praise.

posted at 07:52 pm on November 4, 2005 by Aileen Corr

34 You Go, Girl!

I am always so pleased to see articles on ALA written by women – especially when they are as smart, well-written, and engaging as this one – great job!

posted at 05:10 pm on November 5, 2005 by Mani Sheriar

35 The Gaping Void

Can you imagine having to translate some of this copy?
As an English > Italian translator I am faced with text like this day after day after day, written by some copywriter who tried to hide the paucity of real substance with trendy-sounding words and expressions.
Translating helps to get to the substance of text. The real meaning hidden behind the screen, the plaster under the gilding.

posted at 08:13 pm on November 7, 2005 by Lorenzo Martinelli

36 Knowing what to say, right, that's it!

Great article, I think this says it all: “You can keep copy from turning zombie by starting with a clear idea of exactly what you want to say”, yes, keep it simple, something so basic that people often forget.

Gosh, I hate these zombies.

posted at 04:10 am on November 8, 2005 by Alexis Bellido

37 Blame the SEO Copywriters?

Much of the web is like this due to SEO Copywriters. I always work with a decent copywriter. Despite English being my first language I can never get sentences to flow. It’s broken English I guess. I think it is something I work on.

posted at 04:10 pm on November 13, 2005 by Johan De Silva

38 Patient 226 and his Clone

Curious, I ventured off in search of Patient #226 and found his evil twin, or Frankenstein. It appears one corporate entity shotgunned the other’s marketingbabble on top of their product. It was bad enough the first time, but the second site’s version is so badly sewn together, it obviously came later.

posted at 10:00 pm on February 1, 2006 by Jason Cathcart

39 Danger: Zombies Ahead

A world-class article, whose author should be incentivized for her conceptualization of the synergistic dynamic generated by the win-win, value-added benefits of refusing not to think outside of the box in any way, shape or form.

posted at 12:03 am on April 21, 2006 by Michael Straker

40 The Long and Winding Words....

Any extemporaneous attempts to be magniloquent when in reality you are merely obfuscating the most seminal points of your intended meaning represents literary disaster. Clarity, brevity and unambiguous offerings, however, are the very soul of fine writing and should be employed in perpetuum.

posted at 12:18 am on April 21, 2006 by Dr Tim Thomas