It strikes me that there’s even more demand for all this today. Maybe it’s because of the epidemic of high-profile people doctoring their CV, or their Doctorate Thesis. Or because Mr “Fake News” is heading back to the White House, or the unstoppable rise of AI. But I do find it wearying in the extreme.
There are some amusing incidents along the way, though. I signed up to one of those freelancer platforms and was asked to produce (and upload) some questionnaire from the German Finanzamt about and confirming my freelancer status. I told the person who’d asked for it that yes, I believe I did fill something like that in, but it would have been in 2002. And it would have been on paper. And I would have sent it by post. And no, I wouldn’t have kept a copy as I didn’t have a photocopier in my home at the time (not many people did).
They would just have to take my word for it - which, luckily, they did. I suspect the woman who asked wasn’t even born in 2002 and was embarassed and bewildered by the whole thing.
Taking my word for it. When I write a presentation, or an article, it’s the bird building a nest syndome. There are bits and pieces - from stuff recently read, things I’ve learned, things I just know, intuitively, from long experience etc. etc. I can’t remember the source or reference for each bit because it’s not important. What’s important is the finished nest, where everything fits together in a lovely integral whole and you think - ah, yes!
In the end, it’s a matter of trust. As a whole, I don’t tend to make stuff up, or twist facts and figures to suit my argument (well, not too much). Sources, references and “proof-points” do tend to trip up the reader in the flow of the story, and there's little way of including them elegantly without the article ending up like the aforementioned Doctorate Thesis.
On the other hand, with this kind of howler coming out from an outfit the size of Microsoft, maybe those Mr Gradgrinds do have a point?
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