The (Mostly) Snark Free Lessons From @Grammarly – or Why I Bothered To Write About It At All

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I’ve been thinking a bit about why I let Nick Baron get under my skin… especially after writing about how I try to focus on behaviors instead of people.

Part of it was that I wanted something to write about right then, so it was just bad timing on his part. Part of it was that insulting academic integrity (especially that of my girlfriend) is a really quick way to piss me off.

But also, there were still teachable moments (for you, not him) admist all that. So I decided to write about it.

In case it got lost in the midst of all the (amusing) GIFs:

  1. When you’re apologizing, take the time to really hear what the other person is saying. (“More impartial” bit)

  2. When you’ve done something wrong, admit it and try to fix it, not try to bury it. (Asking people to take down or change their blog posts.)

  3. When someone in your organization has done something wrong, just fix itdon’t require the insulted party to file an official complaint.

  4. Have something of substance to back up your claims – or admit they’re just claims. (“more impartial” again with the press release news articles and “research” that consists of infographics)

And perhaps most importantly:

  1. Recognize that there are some people you’re not going to convert, and let it go.

And that’s where I’m at with Grammarly.  The mail filters are trained, and when I get a chance, I’m going to block them on social media.  I’m so done. 

It’s not even amusing to me any more, and I do not need or want their expensive service. I’d rather spend the money on my authors, thanks. And offering me Amazon gift cards for a positive (and SEO optimized) review isn’t going to change my mind.

I want you to trust my recommendations – because the things I bother to recommend are things that I really enjoy and want to recommend to you.

And that’s worth more than any stupid gift card.