In the midst of this design and usability discussion, I can't help but lump spelling and grammar into the growing list of "threats to our democracy." If the old media have anything on the new, a competent editor falls somewhere near the top of the list.
Example: In the course of twenty minutes, I found two major spelling mistakes in two highly reputable online publications. And I was skimming. A Slate writer told the world how he had started to "thihk" Deep Throat wasn't W. Mark Felt (whom I know as "D.T."*), while All Music let us all in on Smog's new album, A River Ain't To Much To Love, in its weekly newsletter.
Now I know that I'm setting the the Toaster up for heavy ribbing on my spelling, punctuation and grammar. The hypocrite in me will tell you that blogs are horses of a different color, but there's something to be said for being skeptical of how well a given fact was checked if its neighbor sentence hinges on a giant, ugly, gross-like-gum-on-the-bottom-of-your-shoe spelling error.
* Anyone else fascinated by this revelation? Why didn't anyone tell me we were looking for someone who resembled Hal Holbrook?
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