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I've been tracking this thread with curiosity. It started as a post with a link to a tool that computes the grade level of a piece of text and includes equivalent examples to interpret a score with.

What's surprised me is the response the majority of writers on the forms had in regards to their scores. Many people seemed disappointed with their scores, as if recieving a low score some how made them incompetent writers. It's depressing that so many members of the community are so desperate for approval of any sort, they're willing to let an automated processing of the letters they've typed bring them down. On the flip side of this, there's plenty of writers who have been pleased with their scores and felt verified by this machine, myself--I admit--included.

This sort of approval/disapproval interpretation that has been present in the thread is the result of a complete misunderstanding in [i]what[/i] this score is. Writers, who comitted the act of writing which this machine is judging, feel that the given score is attached to their act of writing. On the contrary, this has nothing at all to do with skill in writing. If anything, a truly skill writer ought to want a lower score; that would mean that he or she communicated his or her message more simply and concisely and to a broader audience.

For kicks and giggles, I'm going to throw a few examples at this machine to try and make it look dumb. That's right, it's stick-it-to-the-man time.

Let's start with a pile of nonsense:
[i]rgjkdjkdfgj kgjs gkdf gjdfks djs geis tjwtju vnswen iwqgowhqghqwhg nvqnwqvenhwq gntheq weghq g hwegh ihgw giwegh weigt hjwei wegihjwghweoghweoi ghwe weg g wehi gweghweoighsnvjvnvnqfbqw uwqf rqi rwrhi he[/i]
Score: 8.48. Good, 8th graders can fully understand this text, although I'm certain a 1st grader could just as easily understand it with equal comprehension that it's total nonsense.

What if we add some vowels:
[i]rgijkdijkodfogj kgiojos gokidif gjioodpfaks daojs geis tjaowtijiu vinisiwein iiwiqigioiwhiqigihiqiwihig niviqniwiqivieinihiwiq ginitiheiq wegihiq g hiwieigih iihigiw giiweiigih weigt hjiwei wegihjwigihiwieoigihiwieioii gihwiie wieg g wiehi gowoeogohowoeooiogohosonovjovonovonoqofb oqow uwoqof roqio roooworooohi hoe[/i]
Score: 24.91. Jesus Christ, go get me an expert!

Now for the Gettysburg Address:
[i]Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. [/i]
Score: 10.55.

Famous Chunk of the "I Have a Dream" Speech:
[i]I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.[/i]
Score: 11.74

Aeneid, Book 1, First Stanza:
[i]Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit
litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram;
multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem, 5
inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum,
Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae.[/i]
Score: 24.21

Aeneid, Book 1, First Stanza (all commas replaced with periods):
[i]Arma virumque cano. Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam. fato profugus. Laviniaque venit
litora. multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
vi superum. saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram.
multa quoque et bello passus. dum conderet urbem. 5
inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum.
Albanique patres. atque altae moenia Romae.[/i]
Score: 12.49


So, what can be drawn from this? Skilled writing is percieved with the human eye. Difficult to understand writing can be gauged by machine. However, difficult to understand does not mean better; if anything, it's quite the opposite. People confuse difficulty and quality because a lot of quality writing is often too difficult for them to understand. They rely on the judgement of others to decide what is quality and merge those judgements with their perception of difficulty. Don't fall for this blunder, it's why you have a mind. Use it.