ReadingRate · What's new · 2026-05-04
A purity check that no author passes
ReadingRate publishes a satirical page at /is-my-author-problematic. Type any author's name and it returns a verdict, always yes, phrased eighteen different ways. It looks nothing up. The name you type never leaves the browser and never affects the answer, because the joke is that no writer has ever passed a purity test, and reading would be a thin business if that were the standard.
Available on web.
The page is written straight-faced, which is the only way this sort of thing works. In the voice of a compliance department it explains that an author's corruption risks being transferred to the reader through the act of reading, and then offers to check.
The closing line under every verdict is the argument: as are we all, read carefully.
It makes no factual claim about any writer, living or dead, and it could not, because it never looks at the name.
What it can't do
- It is a joke and must not be cited as a finding about anybody. It does not research authors, holds no records about them, and sends nothing anywhere.
- The verdict is drawn at random from a fixed list of ways of saying yes. Two people typing the same name get different wording and the same answer.
- It is English only on purpose. The verdicts do not survive translation.
- Web only, free, and no account is needed.
Questions people ask
- Is my favourite author problematic?
- ReadingRate's page on this answers yes to every name, because it is satire: it performs no lookup and makes no claim about any real person. The serious point underneath is that purity is the wrong test to apply to writers, and that reading someone is not endorsing them.
- Does ReadingRate have a tool that checks authors for controversy?
- No. The page called Is My Author Problematic is a joke that answers yes to everyone. There is no research tool, no record of allegations, and nothing you type is stored or transmitted.