The First Law of Writing on the Internet.

I developed this Law today while reading a medical blog. It's one of those meta-blogs where many different writers (mostly doctors and nurses) can submit pieces. I read a piece by a doctor. Rather, I tried to read it. Starting with a diction error in the first sentence, the piece rapidly degenerated as the author tried to be "writerly." At least, that's what I think was going on. My other theory was prose illiteracy, but I can't imagine anyone could get through all the years of schooling it takes to become a doctor and never read a novel. Sparkly vampire novels don't count, of course.

There was only one comment on the piece, and here comes the First Law of Writing on the Internet with the commenter's first sentence:

"Beautiful writing!"

Oy.

So there you are— the worse the writing, the greater the chance that someone on the Internet will love it.