Deborah Solomon got her wrist slapped last year after a few of the subjects of her oh-so-sassy interviews in her “Questions for…” column in the Times magazine complained that she misrepresented their thoughts.

The paper now concludes the feature with the legend “conducted, condensed and edited by Deborah Solomon.” Since almost all q&a’s are “conducted, condensed and edited” by the people who do them, the legend is odd. It seems to be code for something else, something like “Deborah is allowed to make stuff up that she didn’t say and publish it to make it seem as if she did.”

And that hasn’t solved the probem of how awkward and lame her interviews are, too.

The one today with Patti Smith exhibits the problem. Here’s the first question:

At the age of 61, you are about to be newly lionized in the forthcoming “Patti Smith: Dream of Life,” a documentary by Steven Sebring that took a decade to complete. The film has some wonderful footage of you and your family, but why are there no interviews with critics or fellow performers or scholars who could provide a context for your work?

First of all, an example of Solomon’s lameness: Why is she asking the subject of the film that question, as opposed to the maker of it? And secondly, do you think Solomon actually spoke that first sentence?

Here’s the third question:

You were writing poems and drawing long before you recorded your debut album, “Horses.” But don’t you consider your music your most original achievement?

Smith actually did many other things as well, from acting to writing record reviews for Rolling Stone. But the phrasing of the question, like the first sentence of the first passage I quoted, aren’t really examples of how sentient beings actually talk. They have the distinction of being both bad questions and awkwardly written. It’s hard to believe Solomon actually spoke out loud either of them, or the second of these, from later in the interview:

What are you working on these days? I am writing this memoir about Robert, a diary of our love and friendship. It’s called “Just Kids.”

You’re referring to the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, another of your muses who died young….

If Smith was referring to him as “Robert,” it seems as if she would have explained it earlier in the interview, which makes it unlikely Solomon would have added that explanation. Do you think she actually said that out loud, or is she making stuff up after the fact and publishing it in the Times as if she did?