Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Genuis Level Blog?

A complete aside, but interesting. Have you seen this blog readability test? You plug in the name of a blog, and it tells you what level of education is required to understand the blog, from genius, down to elementary school.

This blog came back as genius, which has more to do with using big words like "securities" and "regulation" and "arbitration" rather than any great writing skills or intellectual ability of the author, but the results of plugging in other blogs is interesting.

Most of the blogs at the law professor network come back "genius." No surprise there. But some of the most popular blogs in the world come back very low. Instapundit has a "Junior High" readability level, as does the Volokh Conspiracy.

The media sites also rank low, which is undoubtedly attributable to intentional conduct on the part of the authors - Washington Post, Time and the Wall Street Journal all ranked at the High School Level, and CNN and the New York Times came in at the Junior High Level.

Bringing up the rear, the Drudge Report, with a readability level of Elementary School.

Thanks to Concurring Opinions for doing the legwork.

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