Rejection of a spyware guide

[vjlenin]

Hi Ed,

My article titled, "A Spyware Guide: How to Prevent Infection of Your System" has been rejected thrice, and it's not helpful as to why. Could you just provide some more information about why it's rejected? Here are some hints to help you (guide me):

1. "The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), which is a group of academics, anti-spyware companies, and consumer organizations, defines spyware as" [the first sentence of the article]

Do you need an 'a' or 'the' before 'spyware' in this sentence? In this part of the world, we sometimes leave it out.

2. “Spyware is a term for Tracking Software deployed without adequate notice, consent, or control for the user.” [the definition]

This is the definition part, and there is no 'a or the' in it. It's a quote which you can get by googling. I am not supposed to edit it, am I?

3. Spyware / spywares: Do you think it is wrong to say spywares, just as we don't say softwares? But I guess spyware is just like 'cat' and we use 'cats'.

4. Bulleted lists: In the first of the bulleted lists in the article, I used no fullstops. Do you suppose I should put fullstops there?

5. I used snippets like this "Tools->Options->Content tab." in many places. Do you think that '->' is not acceptable?

These are some things which I think caused the rejection. If there is more, could you please tell me about it? It would be really helpful if you let us know what specifically causes the rejection.

I guess you guys can underline any sentences that need refinement and attach the entire file in the rejection mails, before purging it. This will really help reduce many future rejections, since authors get to know what exactly cause them.

Thanks,
Lenin

[HayleyWriter]

Hi Lenin,

I can't answer all of your questions, of course, and I do hope Ed does reply as well.

However, I would suggest that spyware is more appropriate than spywares. Software is the better comparison than cat. It would be one of those words that is hard to look up in a dictionary, as I believe it is a relatively new word, created to describe computer software with a particular purpose (to spy on people or to gather personal data from the computer). Since spyware is related to software, I would treat the word the same way and write it as a collective singular, rather than add an "s" to make it plural.

Hope this helps,

Hayley

[Ed]

Hi -

Yes, "spywares" is awkward because "spyware" is plural. It is also the singular. Like "fish," or "food."

Also, "How to Do Something?" is not a properly formed question. "How Do I Do Something?" or "How Do You Do Something?" is correct. "How Can Spyware Be Cleaned from My Computer?"

These are just two that I remember from seeing these errors more than once.

1. No "a" or "the" before spyware.
2. No, shouldn't edit a quote.
3. answered
4. You mean periods? Depends upon if they end a sentence. Ex.

You should check your PC for spyware if:
*You click on a link in email you suspect is not legitimate.
*You . . . (whatever).

5. This is okay and clear if you are using it to describe a series of keystrokes that are necessary to perform an action.

[vjlenin]

Thanks a lot Ed, I am going to edit the doc as you specified and submit.