Would you want to correct the web? Would you want others to correct your site?
The problem/pain point
As someone who likes to proofread and sees spelling and grammatical errors everywhere, I often have the experience of noticing a problem on a webpage but not having the time/energy to figure out whether there's a feedback button or an email address. And in any case, taking the time to write out a description of what page/paragraph the problem is on seems like too much effort. And of course, while spelling and grammar errors are the most common, the corrections could also be pointing out misinformation or broken functionality.
The idea
On the other hand, suppose I had a browser plugin that let me just (for instance) control-shift-click where the error is. It takes a screenshot or lets me draw a rectangle to select the region, and gives me a quick way to make a comment and highlight on the image. It then uses some smarts to see if there is a feedback button or email address associated with the page (or lets me enter one if I happen to know it). It then sends a polite email to the email address saying, "Hey, just so you know, someone found an error on your webpage. Click here for details."
Some other options:
- There could be an option to see corrections that other people had suggested.
- There could be an option to ask the website owner to buy you a cup of coffee if they found your correction(s) accurate and helpful.
- There could be a rating system where people would earn points for being good proofreaders.
The question
As a user of the web, would you find this plugin useful/satisfying? Would you tend to use it to point out errors? Would you only do it if there was a chance of a reward?
As a webpage creator, what would you think if you got an email saying someone had found one or more errors on your webpage? Would you be grateful? Would you be annoyed? Would you buy someone a cup of coffee for having saved you from an embarrassing mistake?
Also, do you know of existing things like this?
I'm sure it would be helpful to some, but I'm not sure how many people would purposefully seek out a tool like that. Meaning, if you built a tool, how would you find users (or how would they find your tool) to install & use it?
100% appreciate when customers/visitors point out site errors. Most of the people that have emailed us, just do it because they're trying to be helpful. An acknowledgement & thank you is always warranted.
Would I buy them a cup of coffee? Probably.
But the question top of mind for me is -- Is this just a solution in search a problem? Or truly a big/notable problem in search of a solution?
My gut tells me it's the former.
Thanks for the thoughts. I'm not sure how many people would use this tool as a corrector. For me, it would be scratching an itch, because as I say I often have the experience of noticing problems, not having the time/energy to figure out how to get the info to the site owner, and just saying "oh, well". So I wasn't imaging masses of people being correctors, just people who tend to notice errors and would find it satisfying. But even with a tiny army of editor nerds (seeking to be helpful and maybe getting small rewards), it felt like it could be useful (i.e., it doesn't require critical mass to become useful).
Sometimes I've had things built for my own use, and that alone was worth it. Double bonus if it can help others :)
Good luck with it Michael!
As a non-native English speaker and someone, who often struggles to get the copy for their own website right, I would love to receive an email with an error.
I don't know if I would get annoyed if the amount of such emails would be too high or the quality of the feedback - questionable. I would be happy if there would be some 3rd party opinion to "support" the correctness of the suggestion.
I would consider buying a coffee only if the suggestion was something significant (like a review for an entire page or an article). Although, I would consider to give such person a discount to my product.
Yes, there would be an option to adjust the number of emails you get (every time, weekly summary, not at all, etc.). What do you mean by "support the correctness of the suggestion?"
I mean the following: Let's say, one user thinks they found the mistake and suggest an edit. Before that suggestion goes to me, another user, or your employee or some AI checks that that suggestion makes sense and "approves" it. So you have some quality control in place.
It can be implemented in multiple different ways I guess. Amazon Mechanical Turk, for example, gives the same challenge to multiple different users and compares the result.
I see. Yes, certainly if it's a simple spelling or grammar error a spelling/grammar checker could stamp it with a "looks like they are right" stamp. On the other hand, I wasn't imagining someone would get a large number of bogus/incorrect corrections. And if some user seems to be sending you a bunch of bogus ones, you can just say you want to ignore that user.