Huffington Post: The 15 Most Overrated Authors

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Catlady

One of my pet peeves is this method of relaying information. I really only wanted to see a list of the names in text. Instead I had to waste time clicking through slides. Why?

I agree completely!!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I believe the idea was that if they're going to trash the authors, it was only fairly to explain why in some detail.

Sure. But to my mind, the way to do it is to create a numbered list of the authors:

1. Firstname Lastname.
Sample sentence.
Paragraph of explanation, blah blah blah.

2. Firstname Lastname.
Sample sentence.
Paragraph of explanation, blah blah blah.

... and not try to create a multimedia experience that makes me click 15 times. If they wanted to include photos, they could have done that without the slide show. That way a reader can take in all the names quickly in less time.

[ficbot]

They make it a slide show because then each entry is it's own page,so they get 15 pages to advertise on and brag about the hits for, instead of 1.

[GA Russell]

My objection to slide shows is that they load far too slowly - so slowly they are rarely worth the effort.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

My objection to slide shows is that they load far too slowly - so slowly they are rarely worth the effort.

And for those of us still using dial-up, they're mostly ignored as too time consuming to load.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

My objection to slide shows is that they load far too slowly - so slowly they are rarely worth the effort.

And the reason they load so slowly is all the advertisements from all the adservers across the internet...

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by ficbot

They make it a slide show because then each entry is it's own page,so they get 15 pages to advertise on and brag about the hits for, instead of 1.

Absolutely! More page clicks the more advertising dollars.

I did like how he calls some authors gimmicky. Never thought of them like that but it is an intriguing idea.

Other than Amy Tan I never heard of the others. Of course, I am too much of a literary snob to be fooled by such overratedness.

I would like to see his underrated list.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

First off, I hate the Huffington Post website (got that off my chest).

Except for Amy Tan, I've never heard of any of the rest. Is my reading that insular?

No, it's just a really lousy article with mostly highly unknown authors. I'm with you, other then Amy Tan, I've not heard of any of them. And even if I've not read, I do keep up with a lot of different authors based on things that my mother and mother-in-law reads plus the a lot of best sellers.

The author is overreacting to these authors who don't matter a whit.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Catlady

One of my pet peeves is this method of relaying information. I really only wanted to see a list of the names in text. Instead I had to waste time clicking through slides. Why?

I agree. There should have been a list. Sure the slideshow could have remained. But then when I had read the list, I would have ignored the slideshow and the article given it's a waste of space.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kennyc

And the reason they load so slowly is all the advertisements from all the adservers across the internet...

That's why we have Firefox and AdBlock Plus. Say goodbye to the adverts.

[chrisarippel]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Except for Amy Tan, I've never heard of any of the rest. Is my reading that insular?

What the heck do you guys mean you never heard of the authors in this article?

You guys have never heard of
Ernest Hemingway?
William Faulkner?
Sinclair Lewis?
F. Scott Ftizgerald?

Did you read the entire article or
just the red words at the top of the article?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by chrisarippel

What the heck do you guys mean you never heard of the authors in this article?

You guys have never heard of
Ernest Hemingway?
William Faulkner?
Sinclair Lewis?
F. Scott Ftizgerald?

Did you read the entire article or
just the red words at the top of the article?

We're obviously talking about the people the writer called overrated--the ones in the slideshow.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by chrisarippel

What the heck do you guys mean you never heard of the authors in this article?

You guys have never heard of
Ernest Hemingway?
William Faulkner?
Sinclair Lewis?
F. Scott Ftizgerald?

Did you read the entire article or
just the red words at the top of the article?

Methinks someone is confused.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The author is overreacting to these authors who don't matter a whit.

I don't know that Michiko Kakutani really belongs on a list like this; she's not what would popularly be considered an "author" (a writer, yes). But surely she's one of the most influential critics (read: responsible for a lot of sales) in the country and I think the appraisal of her was well-founded.

[kennyc]

I did think it a somewhat "strange" list.