Slash, No Back

Listening to MPR yesterday, I heard the newscaster describing a sponsorship from the Nature Conservancy. Fine, fine.

Then it happened. He gave the organization's web address, and said, "Online at www.nature.org backslash Minnesota."

It's not the first time I've heard this backslash nonsense on an MPR sponsor's web address. For months at one point, they were listing off the address of Best Buy for Business with a backslash in the address.

What happens when you type a backslash into a web address? A big fat nothing. You don't get a page, because it's not a path.

This is MPR, which has one of the best websites done by a nonprofit organization in the state. You'd think they could get something this simple right. Who proofreads this stuff?