Hex Bits for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMCXXIX

hex bit socket (note square drive hole)

If it were not so painful, it would be amusing to watch some of the journalism majors our staff encounters trying to explain even the most trivial of technical and mechanical products. The way in which some of them manage to mangle definitions and terminology would be hilarious if we didn't realize that some poor schmuck reading their literary droppings might think they were accurate. To the canon of mangled technical information, we now add the WiseGEEK.com post "What Is a Hex Bit Socket?" (in their niche that is supposedly AboutMechanics.com); a piece of internet stupidification from the keyboard of returning DotD Maggie Worth.

Glaciers and Plucking for Dummies

Glacial plucking

Over the years the Antisocial Network Staffers have come to realize that it often takes only a sentence or two to recognize the freelancers babbling about topics they don't understand. The clue is often a blatant misstatement of facts, but not always. As an example of the concept, let's begin with the opening paragraph of today's nominee, a WiseGEEK.com post by Andrew Kirmayer entitled "What Is Glacial Plucking?" (now at niche site AllThingsNature.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).