One of my favorite MobEditors pointed me towards this BuzzFeed list of great holiday gifts for an editor on your list.

I think my favorite is the owl.  What is yours?

Despite the prevalence of typos in tweets and seemingly accelerating errors in traditional media.  A recent survey showed that not only that Millenials care about typos, but they care at rate greater than other groups.  No detailed analysis was provided, however I assume that what kids are taught in school never rubs off completely.

I go on to talk about the service.  As you might imagine, sometimes in my haste I make an error.  Yes, it is embarrassing and I am very appreciative when the author lets me know.  Yet, sometimes (like today) I get a note like the following

These are never fun to get, but I accept them in the heat of the moment, make the change, and thank the author for his time.  In some small way it confirms my need for the service.

Keep those typos coming.

Dave

A recent article about the power of typos caught my attention this week.  The author reports on the work of Andrew Brodsky.  His work shows that typos convey emotion. He does not go into the physical causes of this, but I am sure you have found that when on a rant, you tend to let your fingers fly. Most of the errant keystrokes get caught, but if you are in a passionate mood, sometimes all the red gets filtered out.  He does note that this emotional gain does not usually outweigh the hit you get for intelligence. I hope to chat with the future Dr. Brodsky and will share my findings.

I continue to stand by my EditMob mantra that no one (older than 10) gets chided for perfect grammar.

Watch for an update or maybe survey in the near future.

Dave

EditMob is not a substitute for professional editing.

I am tempted to stop there, however if you know me, I like to talk.  Most of the comments I get boil down to this one.

Why would I want to edit for free?

1) It is not editing
I love the name EditMob, but a more accurate name would be ProofMob or TypoMob. 

I'd also like to note that the monthly contest is designed to make it easy, anonymous, and rewarding (through the sweeps) to report typos that you just happen across. It is not really for true editing, rather simple errors (missing Ss, double words, occasionally word choice).

2) It serves a slightly different purpose
Have you ever been in the elevator with someone and noticed their tie askew or a button undone?  Maybe they are going to a very important meeting.  Wouldn't it be nice to lean over and whisper in their ear and let them know?  That is EditMob.  EditMob is not extreme makeover.

Also I think there are some possible services that I can offer professional editors (these are still in development). 

1) I think that EditMob highlights the larger need for editors. An author who consistently makes errors (hopefully) will see the larger issue. I've thought about offering some form of referral service.

2) I also think that it offers a discreet service for editors who would rather have their occasional oversight be reported directly.

I welcome your comments and questions.

dave

EditMob is not a stickler.  I very rarely receive a submission for an arcane rule of grammar (though I am not opposed to it).  One of the more interesting aspects of monitoring your submissions is the quality (and quantity) of the reports.  Less than 5% of the reports are rejected.  I would attribute nearly all of those to style decisions by the author and a few to British/Canadian spelling.

I was reading a blog entry by Carol Saller (who I just realized is the editor for the Chicago Manual of Style online forum) and then engaged her in a quick email exchange.  As most people point out, she noted that EditMob is a great outlet for those of you who want to do good; but she also rejected that EditMob is a stickler.  Whew.

I often get comments from authors that feel all their readers should be focused on the content, rather than typos.  To them I respond, yes but ... don't you want the cleanest read for everyone else.

Those that agree sign up.  Thanks.

-dave

The presentation below by B.J. Fogg of Stanford University ranks how typos affect credibility.  It also shows that over the course of the study, typos became more deleterious AND that typos scored worse that pop-up ads (boy I hate those).  Two slides (24 and 31) comment directly on the negative aspects of typos.