Some time ago, Google added a rather interesting feature to its advanced search, called reading level. The aim of this feature is to give users a way to find content based on their reading level.
I ran three well known shaving forums through it, and here are the results:
To get one thing straight from the outset: No, there is no direct correlation between the use of "basic" English and the usefulness of the content. But it is safe to assume that there is one between its use, and the educational level of the users. Google's Daniel Russell contributed this:
"The feature is based primarily on statistical models we built with the help of teachers. We paid teachers to classify pages for different reading levels, and then took their classifications to build a statistical model. With this model, we can compare the words on any webpage with the words in the model to classify reading levels. We also use data from Google Scholar, since most of the articles in Scholar are advanced.
So the breakdown isn't grade- or age-specific, but reflects the judgements of teachers as to overall level of difficulty. Roughly speaking, "Basic" is elementary level texts, while "Intermediate" is anything above that level up to technical and scholarly articles, a la the articles you'd find in Scholar.
That's not exact, but it's a fairly robust model that works across a wide variety of different text styles and web pages."
So, simple is not necessarily bad. In fact, in order to reach a wide audience, simple is usually good. However, simple does not necessarily mean quality. While short sentences and paragraphs are typically encouraged (because reading on computer screens is more difficult than reading a book) common, non technical words, acronyms, and phrases are not generally good. The large shaving forums are ripe with lingo, jargon, and other forms of sociolects. That makes them hard to access for newcomers, while allowing for in-groups to form. Simplifying technical terms is also confusing: Chromium(III) oxide is often referred to as Crox, but in fact, its proper abbreviation is Cr2O3.
There are too many examples to mention here, but the problem should be clear: lack of knowledge combined with ADHD (ie high post count with little actual content) will result in high basic reading levels but poor content. It will also leave the reader dissatisfied and confused. Which, quite frankly, is what quite a few of the senior members aim for. Because for them, the aim of a forum is what they call discussion. However, what they actually mean is not discussion but exposure: The more confused a new joiner is, the easier it is for them to shine with low level factual knowledge.
One might argue that such questions had better be addressed with a set of frequently asked questions (aka FAQ). But if you take a look at Badger and Blade's or the Straight Razor Place's FAQs, you will quickly notice that the forum post count / FAQ content ratio is pathetic. To be fair, SRP's FAQ is actually quite good, but it has not been updated in a long time. B&B's is a joke, and its focus on commerce is indicative of its overall thrust.
Either way, the challenge is to make things neither too obtuse nor too complicated. I am not quite sure whether coticule.be is doing itself a favour by having such a high proportion of advanced content. Why? Let me explain.
While I was still part of SRP's management team, I tried to promote a few novel concepts. Well, novel for the shaving forum scene. One was the Wiki. I tried to explain its pros and cons in as much detail as possible in the hope that some of the more geriatric moderators would understand its potential. Typically, my 20 paragraph posts were answered with one three word reply. A fellow developer there made me aware of something I had not quite expected from a group of self proclaimed professionals: I had fallen into the tl;dr trap. My writing style was too complicated, my sentences were too long, I used too high a register - and it just did not work.
So the challenge is to strike a balance between use of simple English, and dumbing down your texts. Rhys Winne sums it up nicely:
"Ultimately, though, your readers are you best source of feedback. If you are constantly having to explain terms in post comments or over email, you should tone down the complexity of your writing, which will lower your Reading Level ranking. If, however, your readers respond with intelligent comments, you may be able to write in a more advanced style."
Well, this site apparently is not faring too badly.
