On Push-Button Publishing

One of the reasons why I fell in love with blogging is that nothing is carved in stone. Welcome to the digital age, folks! Before, if a published author discovered a typo or a mistake that needed revising, he’d have to wait for the second printing—that is, if his publishers decide his book is work reprinting. But with blogging, you can publish now, spot a mistake later, correct it, and viola! Your blog just keeps getting better.

In the digital age, even works of art are not spared of such revisions. Take for example George Lucas’ Star Wars movies. (Okay, okay, except for Episodes Four and Five—the first two that were filmed—the rest of the installments in that saga may not qualify for the label of “works of art”. Anything with Ewoks and Jar Jar Binks will send critics and film historians into an apoplectic fit.) Nowadays Lucas has the technology that allows him to revisit a movie he shot, post-produced and released a long, long time ago and revise shots, replace characters and alter anything onscreen. Easiest to alter are the first three episodes since they were shot digitally.

With almost every episode here in The McVie Show, I’ve noticed a mistake or two, or realized that a word, phrase, sentence or paragraph would read better if rewritten in another way after I’ve pressed the “publish” button. I have no hesitation to click the “edit” button and revise, even if many have already commented on that particular episode. I’ve even added sentences or whole paragraphs in previously posted episodes of the Show.

That’s why if someone were to point out mistakes here in my blog, my first reaction would be embarrassment of course (unless the mistake is quite minor or easily overlooked). But I don’t mind correcting that mistake.

What may get my goat, however, is the manner in which the mistakes are pointed out. If the tone used is arrogant or condescending, I may not even bother correcting the mistake but just let it exist—a reminder that no one is perfect, not even the one pointing out my mistake.

And in the end, how you act towards such criticisms is still very much your choice.