Bicycle Pumps for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMCXXI

Different tire pumps

We find the capsule biographies of content-farm freelancer so be most instructive, especially when the author in question claims to be an expert or an enthusiast in a given topic. Take, for instance, today's nominee, WiseGEEK.com writer Malcolm Tatum. In his bio, Tatum allowed that "his interests include... cycling." That caught the eye of the house cyclist, who decided to search his WiseGEEK oeuvre for cycling-related content. Sure enough, up popped "What is a Bicycle Pump?" at an all-new wiseGEEK niche, WikiMotors.com. According to our staffer, about the only dumber answer to that question would probably involve women's shoes...

Cylinder Heads for Dummies

 

sample cylinder head configuration

Over the years we've learned that one of the quickest ways to identify the freelancers who are utterly clueless about their topics is the truly stupid misuse of terminology that would be easily recognizable to anyone familiar with the topic. A good example would be the creative writing graduate who tries to tell you how to replace the "break shoes" on your "disk breaks"... although we've come to learn that a lot of people seem to make that particular mistake. Nevertheless, we caught today's nominee is just such a faux pas: he's first-time DotD Jeremy Laukkonen, whom we caught trying to explain "What is a Cylinder Head?" for WiseGEEK niche site WikiMotors.com.

Ring Gears, the Dummies Version

internal ring gear

Every once in a while we run across freelancer content that is laughable in its level of outright dumbassery. A classic example is the freelancer who, when asked a question, dances all around the answer for several hundred words and then leaves the scene with the question still unanswered. We found one of those just the other day, something by a returning DotD from the world of WiseGEEK.com, a gent by the name of Troy Holmes. Troy's post, which was (for a while, anyway) edited by the great W. Everett, was on the topic of "What Is a Ring Gear?" (formerly at niche site InfoBloom.com, now moved to WikiMotors.com).

Ignition Systems for Mechanical Dummies

basic components of an ignition system

We know for a fact that the drones who write (wrote?) for eHow.com could only change the wording of a "title" in the case of an egregious spelling error; we don't know if the same is (was?) true at WiseGEEK.com. Given the utter inanity of the title addressed by today's DotD, however, it looks like that same rule applies/applied. After all, the supposed question, "How do I Replace an Ignition?" (now at niche site WikiMotors.com) doesn't make any sense – although neither does Lori Kilchermann running with the title.