Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Sincerity

Ezra Pound: “I believe in technique as the test of a man’s sincerity.” Let’s say a writer’s sincerity. Pound’s point is that there’s no genuine art without an absolute care for words and their implications. The cheap ornament or facile figure of speech won’t do.

When it comes to spam comments, one might think of sincerity as the test of a writer’s technique. Sincerity is crucial. Once you can fake that, &c., as the saying goes.

A useful exercise for novice students of writing might be to examine a spam comment closely and figure out all the ways in which its attempt at sincerity fails. Here’s one I received earlier this week:

That’s great! Just pumped up. You always give your best! Super useful and awesome information here. I thank you! Thank you very much!
Obviously, it’s a fake, and you can tell in an instant. But how much evidence can you assemble to make that case?

comments: 7

Chris said...

The lack of detailed reference to the actual content is a giveaway. I get these too, and "super useful and awesome information" doesn't convince me that the person has actually read the post. (Not that I mean to imply that your posts aren't awesome, mind you.)

Michael Leddy said...

I thank you!

Michael Leddy said...

But seriously —

If I were looking at this with students, I’d hope they would point out how excessive the praise is (whatever a post might say) and how the comment mixes false-sounding slang (“pumped up”?!) and weird formality. Spammers have a ways to go in faking sincerity.

Fresca said...

What do you mean?
I wrote that comment on your post!

(Heh. No.)

Michael Leddy said...

Ha! These spam comments are a lot more entertaining than their writers realize.

Zhoen said...

I'm always suspicious of exclamation marks. Per Pratchett.

Michael Leddy said...

They’d make a great subject for a classroom discussion.