Thursday, May 12, 2005

Fake Feedback

Here's an e-mail I wrote to Inq7.net

Dear Editor,

I just want to bring to your attention the misuse of the term target
in your article, "Finance sees budget gap below target with new VAT
law".

You quote Finance Secretary Purisma as saying:=20

"I'm confident that with this measure, we're going to beat the target
and come up with a lower deficit (this year)."

In the context of the article, the main point being communicated is
that the VAT law may cause the deficit to be below the ceiling amount
that government has set.

Strictly speaking one doesn't aim to "beat the target", because a
target represents the ideal value, more or less of which would be less
than ideal. A target is like the center of a dartboard. Whether or not
you hit above or below the bullseye, it still isn't as good as if the
center had been hit in the first place.

One can exceed expectations, surpass goals, but one doesn't beat targets.

Thus, your article title more appropriately should read as, "Finance
see budget gap beneath ceiling with new VAT law." In its present form,
one can interpret the headline as a negative development, one being
'below target', which is the opposite of what is expressed in the
article.

- Fabian Mangahas

* * *

I e-mailed this to money@inq7.net which is the posted e-mail address for writing the editor. Guess what I got in return not 5 seconds after e-mailing? This:

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at inq7interactive.net.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

:
Sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.1.1)

--- Below this line is a copy of the message.

This might be part of the reason why the quality of writing on their site is such.

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