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Information at our fingertips is what rating Helium articles is all about. Sometimes it is a chore and sometimes it is not. When the writing and the ideas are interesting and tells me a little more about the vast world of knowledge out there that I need to know, I am excited and happy.

Yet, when the same article floats doubled and I must decide between the two no matter how hard I search for some difference, I find none, then I am annoyed. I just click on the right or the left. It is then I wonder:

Is the fraction of a cent that my clicking on your article worth jamming up the works? I think not.

This is how I rate: I read the first one or two sentences of each. This tells me which one better addresses the topic, or answers the question asked. As an example I will vote down a better crafted article if it veers of course and does not stick to the topic.

If both are close, and if I find the subject enjoyable, I will reach each one carefully, and try to discern which is better. These are the kind of articles, or stories, or poems, I like to rate.

As for grammar, I'm no expert, but I do try to watch my p's and q's. The better crafted one, however, takes second place to content. If what a writer is saying and is valuable, then editing will polish it into something that can be published. But no amount of grooming will turn empty or ugly copy into something it is not. Not, according to how I rate.

Above all, I aim for fairness, and truth of purpose. As I become more experienced in rating and judging the merit of either A or B articles, I look more carefully for content that is exceptional but written by someone not well equipped to write in English. I have, by careful reading discerned that the writer was knowledgeable but was struggling with our language. I give these writers benefits of the doubt.

And once or twice I have been so moved by something that I wrote, I flaged the articel and congratulated him. I have no reason to believe that is a wrong thing to do, but possibly I should get permission before I do it again. Or I could take the trouble to look up the author by chasing down the author and finding his name and sending him/her an email. Yet, for reasons of time, I seldom do this.

Learn more about this author, EMoore.
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