Oh, sweet baby jeebus…

I made the mistake of checking out the website.

Let's see if I have this straight…

1. These people – at a minimum – gained admission to Penn State
2. It's my understanding that these folk have – for the most part – "graduated and moved on" – hence MOST of them presumably have at least a 4-year degree FROM PENN STATE.
3. Penn State is not exactly a "ghetto" school
4. It seems a fair assumption that whoever is in charge of their website has – at minimum – SOME collegiate education if not a Baccalaureate Degree – whether said person is a PRS member or an employee of their production company
5. Another fair assumption would be that the folks at PRS have some collegiate education at minimum and would at least have editorial input on the site which bears (<– note) their name…
6. Lastly, it's my understanding that English is these folks' native language

Have I made any inaccurate or unfair assumptions?

It really kills me to be such a crotchety old fart at the ripe old age of 43, but…  Here's a quote from their site:

The data & evidence collected does not prove that any of the paranormal exists or in any way is evidence of the paranormal. Our data is merely unexplainable anomalies that we are uncertain of their causes. Some of the data presented has been explained and we are providing this information as well for our viewers and readers. We offer you to review and scrutinize all the evidence presented on your own and offer your personal opinion on the phenomena that was captured.

Please bare with us as we continue to build our evidence section. Check back often as we continue to add clips, photos and reports of cases from Seasons 1 & 2.

This stuff makes me CRAZY.

The stoopid – it buuuuuuurrrrrrns!!

(it puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets…  STOP IT… Preciousssssssss…..)

Sorrry.  I'm better now…

Let's (see if I can) dissect (this … OMG … mess before my head EXPLODES! (they're coming!-ha-ha-he… Sorrry.  I'm better now…)

"The data & evidence collected does not prove that any of the paranormal exists or in any way is evidence of the paranormal. … "

OK…  Even leaving out the fact that "anecdote" is not "data", and that what we have here is COMMONLY called "evidence"…

(though they insist it's "not…in any way is evidence" which I assume means "this is not evidence" to those of us who speak English… Say… did YODA write this?) 

WTF is that (and I use this noun in its loosest possible definition) "sentence" supposed to MEAN?

"… Our data is merely unexplainable anomalies that we are uncertain of their causes. …"

OK… 

Are these "college graduates" aware that there exists a vast chasm between "unexplainABLE" and "(as yet) unexplainED"?

Perhaps this was written by the folks in the Department of Redundancy Department? 

"…Some of the data presented has been explained and we are providing this information as well for our viewers and readers…."

So…  Some of the "unexplainable" data has been explained?  Whoa…  Next, to do the undoable!

"…We offer you to review and scrutinize all the evidence presented on your own and offer your personal opinion on the phenomena that was captured…."

Offer me WHAT?

Or, are you offering ME to… Whom?

What if I want to offer someone ELSE's personal opinion?

"…Please bare with us as we continue to build our evidence section. Check back often as we continue to add clips, photos and reports of cases from Seasons 1 & 2."

Bare WHAT?  I'm in pretty good shape for my age, but…  Those crazy college kids – any excuse to get naked…  Though, this one is just a BIT kinky, even if one HAS been consuming vast quantities of jungle juice…  Whatever makes your dolphin dance, I mean…

Oh…  They meant "BEAR with us", not "bare…" (<–emBARE-assed, heh-heh…)

Just for grunts and giggles (and any Penn State English Majors that may happen by…) I guess I should probably show how it could have been done…

First, add a simple "This area is under construction." graphic – as the page header reads "data and evidence review" there's simply no need for more verbosity.

If you wish, you could say

"Check back often as we continue to add clips, photos and reports of cases from Seasons 1 & 2. "

Now for the disclaimer:

"The following media items (videos, pictures and sounds) are anomalies, the causes of which are (as yet) unexplained.  Nothing here constitutes ' proof of the paranormal' – in fact we've also included some intriguing items which have been explained. 

We hope you'll review and scrutinize all of these items, and let us know what you think of what we have captured.  We welcome your opinions and input. "

Note how I've removed the conflicting verbiage and simplified the whole thing into a couple of simple statements which convey all the necessary information in a clear and concise manner.  These skills are usually taught at the high-school level – perhaps English 101 or an "English as a Second Language" class could be of value.

/snark
/grammar nazi…

Seriously, guys – if there's anyone here that's still in college or of "school-age" – I can't stress this enough:  People judge your intelligence and abilities by the way in which you communicate.  Spelling counts, grammar counts MORE. 

I'm a high-end Consultant/Systems Engineer.  The major difference between me and some of my much-lesser-paid peers (most of whom are AT LEAST as intelligent as I am) is essentially communication skills.  I've seen some very capable, intelligent people relegated to the basement because they lack basic spelling and grammar abilities.

Don't be ashamed to take "remedial" classes – I've also seen a couple of people move up when they improved the skills which were holding them back.  It's never too late, and you CAN do it.

Lastly, "txt-typing" is NEVER appropriate unless you're just fooling on your cell-phone with your friends.  Even txt messages in a business environment should stick as close to "formal" as possible given the limitations of the tools being used.

its jus nx kewl 4u2 txt lyk thz – EVER – in "public" – much less in a business situation.

Learn the difference between their, they're and there – your and you're – its and it's (don't even get me started on "apostrophe abuse"…) — these little things speak volumes (possibly FALSE volumes) about your intelligence to the people who will determine your course in the world.  You never know when one of them may see something you wrote…

In THIS case, how in the h-ee-double-ELL am I supposed to take anything they say seriously after THAT introduction?  How much faith can I have in the (apparently) "challenged" kid's opinion?

HTH – seriously…

DD

I'm with you, DD. It reads like a somewhat-educated individual wrote it. The thought process was something like, "OK. I guess I used enough big words to make us sound like we know what we're talking about."

It reminds me when my students would write sentences using their vocabulary words. They'd usually use them in a way that I could tell they knew the definition; but they either didn't change the tense, or they used it as the wrong part of speech (I hiatus in my room when I got home yesterday.)

However, to be fair to them, they were special education students…..Still; we corrected.

What's worse (to me) is that Ryan has a journalism degree and his bio page says in his spare time he "ski's" and would like to wind up on a beach drinking "Corona's" ..