The Avengers Forever: IMHO

	IMHO: 17 January 2003 Page 9 of 28

In My Humble Opinion.

Some readers aren't aware of what IMHO means: it is a cyberspace acronym that is intended to be somewhat sarcastic. It serves as an indicator that statements made are personal opinions meant to be taken with a wink—or might otherwise irritate readers prone to taking things too seriously.

The Avengers Forever is, admittedly, the 800-pound gorilla of Avengers websites, and as such is regarded as carrying certain "responsibilities." It's been suggested that I am remiss in my "duty" to provide "balanced" reviews of Avengers episodes, and that my little IMHOs are possibly a way to compensate for the fact that I am incapable of detailed, objective analysis. Hmmm...

First, the instant one makes any reference to the perceived merits or faults of a piece of art or entertainment, one has left the objective world behind. Contrary to the assertions of some, it is virtually impossible to discuss such things with pure objectivity. Everything we perceive, after all, is filtered through our personal bias (with the exception of various low-level stimuli such as pinpricks and bad smells, which have no relevance to this editorial). Responses to our perceptions are doubly biased, since expressing them involves the same filtering mechanisms that were used in the observations. Thus an "unbiased opinion" is an oxy-moron.

OK, so let's assume we rein in all bias to the extent that is humanly possible... We are left with something like: it was 52 minutes long, it was in color, the picture was in focus, Steed did this, Emma did that, etcetera, etcetera, blah, blah, blah. Six fight scenes made it excessively violent—oops, can't say that. It might not seem excessively violent to someone else.

An analysis devoid of any opinion is consequently reduced to a combination synopsis and technical summary. IMHO, this is about as dry and boring as prose can get. Useful, possibly, but hardly entertaining. Most people, I believe, are genuinely interested in someone's personal opinions, and can appreciate and accept them even if they are not in agreement. And opinions are usually more entertaining than facts.

The "classic" objective analysis sought by some individuals is really a thousand-word rationalization of a personal opinion. The process of justification seems to create the illusion that the view is balanced; in the end, it becomes a long-winded way of saying, "Six fight scenes made it excessively violent."

My preference is for "short and sweet." Alas, my brevity may occasionally impart a greater sense of negativity than is actually intended—make no mistake, I dearly love the show (which renders anything I say about it triply biased). However, it's a deliberate risk that I take, for I have another reason to keep my remarks succinct.

A web page is a very different beast from a printed page. The principal distinction has to do with the manner in which information is retrieved, both organizationally and physically. From an organizational standpoint, web content is accessed more or less at random, versus print media where information arrives in a generally linear fashion. The ability to jump from one piece of content to another via hyperlinks causes most people to absorb web information in a highly fragmented manner. And from the physical angle, reading text from a computer screen is more difficult (even uncomfortable) than from print.

To compensate for these negative effects, information is best presented on the web in compact chunks. Indeed, studies have shown that the most effective web content is written in a style quite different from conventional prose. Sentences are kept punchy and tight; paragraphs are reduced to an average of just a couple of sentences. Almost like reading nothing but ad copy. Really.

You may be able to see where I am headed: The Avengers Forever was designed with all of this in mind to the extent that it's practical. And for the surfer who wants more in-depth analyses, and can deal with the web environment, I publish visitor reviews regardless of style, length or opinion.

But I digress. I fear this editorial has gone on too long—it is becoming a thousand-word rationalization of a simple message for those who would take issue with how I run TAF: you are a virtual guest here in my virtual home. If you don't care for the way it is virtually kept, well, nothing is keeping you here. But I do hope you find cause to stick around.

And that's my humble opinion.

David K. Smith, 17 January 2003