So I’ve been trying to write this for a frigging week, and I still haven’t come up with a way to fully avoid sounding like I’ve got up on my grandstanding martyr box. I apologize; I hate that shit. But I’d rather say it poorly than not say it at all.

I’ve been an editor here for a long time. I am very good at telling when a piece of text deserves its own spot at e2, and when it would be better suited to a daylog or blog post. There’s a gray area of course, but sometimes it’s clear. Two weeks ago I cross-posted a little snippet of text to both my blog and its own node here. I wrote it and I liked it for what it was, but there’s no way it needed its own node. I did this because I wanted to see what would happen if I quietly violated my own standards. I suspected and hoped that people would call me out on it, and I wanted to see how that would be handled.

Among those who noticed and objected to the writeup, it was largely handled by talking shit when I wasn’t around and sending abusive msges, usually profane, sometimes taking issue with my heritage, intelligence, or role at E2, and almost always confrontational and ugly.

This was hardly a scientific study, and it wasn’t meant to be. It was just my own curiosity poking a button to see what would happen. I have no way of knowing how much of the anger was due to me being me, to me being an admin, or to random bilious whim. A downvote is one thing - telling someone to fuck off and die is a little different.

If it was simply because I’m me, I’m baffled; to my knowledge none of the angry responses came from people I’ve had any unpleasant encounters with. Resentment based on reputation is silly; I think I’m only famous for cookies and rabbits. If it’s sheerly because I’m an admin, I’m doubly baffled, because, come on. Interestingly, some of the most spiteful and profane msges I received were the first contacts I’d ever had with these users. That seems like an unwise foot to start off on with anyone, not to mention with any admin, but it is the internet and you can do as you like.

---

I don’t know that this already-too-long editor log will reach any of the people it ought to. If you liked, didn’t care about, or didn’t see the goofy little wu in question (which I’ve just deleted), obviously none of this applies. A few people disliked the piece and sent diplomatic queries, which I appreciate more than you know. I am not delusional enough to think I will ever be liked by everyone, and maybe some of you have long-held grudges I can’t remember the roots of (/msg me for christ’s sake; I’ll probably apologize.) And in any group, some people are just bound to be dicks.

But if you are one of the people who imploded with fury at seeing an editor apparently flaunt a rule, and took it as evidence that E2 is unfairly and perhaps corruptly, cliqueishly edited, well, I guess I apologize for furthering your thinking. However there is no excuse, in this or in any other adult social group, for forgoing basic civility as a first step in dealing with conflict.

I am confident that there is no one on our staff who would respond to a sub-par writeup with rude or profane msges. If I’m wrong, please correct me. We know that our users are, duh, an essential part of this user-written website, and we want this to be a pleasant place. Not perfect, not completely free of conflict, just generally respectful. E2 is already far ahead of many public forums in this regard but evidently we still have a ways to go.

If you see me, or any other editor, behaving in a way you think is inappropriate, whether in noding, editing, or personal communication, it is ok and encouraged to speak up. I do not mean general bitching and rumor-mongering - I mean saying things like:

“/msg editor I don’t understand your writeup x. Am I missing something?”

or

“/msg editor wu y is a little bare. Do you think you could flesh it out?”

or

“Can I ask why wu z was deleted?”

or

“Uh... this wu of yours seems to be an E1 relic. Mind taking a look?”

or even

“This one doesn’t seem up to current standards. Are you sure it needs its own spot?”

Since this is pretty much what we sit around saying to users all day, I cannot imagine that anyone on staff would take offense to msges like these. Or who wouldn’t answer them. None of us got the job because we were unable to take criticism. I have always enjoyed the rumor that I am a bot, but I am actually a normal person who can be talked with. There’s seriously no need to either prostrate yourself or freak out profanely. Talk to us like we are nice guys and you increase your chances of being treated the same way. If you’re shy or paranoid, msg trusted editor A about the actions of unknown editor B. If there’s not one person on the staff you feel you can talk to, well that is a problem I can’t fix.

The bottom line is that if you enjoy E2 and would like to see it grow and become better, please address disagreements directly, rationally, and with a civil tongue in your head. Developing a default of general courtesy goes a long way toward making this place unique and amazing among similar sites. If you can’t manage this, you are not doing E2 right.



In other news, here is a list of topics which are now empty as a result of my ongoing plagiarism sweep. Details in last month’s editor log here. I’ll be adding to this list throughout the month. More empty topics can be found on my scratchpad.


And, if you’re not listed on the address registry or birthday list, and would like to be, I’m the lady to msg.

Last Month

User News

On the morning of July 6th, at amnesiac's request, his e2 account was locked. This is apparently an act of expiation for events of July 4th in which amnesiac apparently upset one or more users. Thus we fulfill the "Lord Brawl locked my account" story line. I did promise to report such actions in a timely manner, thus this notice.

Admin News

In other news, several content editors rotated out of the team. Jurph, wordnerd, yclept, Ouroboros, and Teiresias have each stepped down from the CE team, while witchiepoo, Lometa, avalyn, and ascorbic have moved to the e2gods usergroup. This pared the CE team down to 20 members. I was planning to consider recommendations for additions to the CE usergroup over the remainder of July, but stability issues (both everything2's and some of my own) precluded this. Look for some new CEs to be named during August.

'Outside' Room Topics

Early in July I was changing the room topic to "today in history" items that allowed me to hard link interesting, well-written e2 nodes on a related subject. Many folks said that they found this worthwhile. Since then the topic area has been in use for other things, but I hope to return to this practice soon. Perhaps one day we'll code up something to automate this, in the meantime daily topical suggestions are welcome.

PornQuest 2006

I was worried when PQ appeared unexpectedly in New Writeups. Having been deluged with concern over a previous "not an official Quest" quest (HQ), I added a response there that was initially too hectoring, though I subsequently toned it down. In any case, my concerns seem to have been unfounded. I apologize for casting any aspersions on the maturity of the noder community. The submissions have been quite sound and welcome additions to the database.

Letters to the Editors

I realize that when I put borgo's "Letters to the Editors" on the front page, that made it seem like I was running that initiative. Such was not my intent, it was meant as a cooperative admin activity. I do not check the gmail account myself. Others do, and one of this month's missives was passed on to me for review. It seemed to warrant not only my response, but also dann's and ultimately nate's involvement as well. For several reasons, the letter and my response to it have been posted as a document node. You can read them at Letters to the Editors: July 2006.

A shorter version of this Editor Log was originally posted as a day log on July 6, 2006.

Next Month

Sheesh, what is it about summer that causes you to slack off so many of your usual activities? And I don't even like summer ... heat, humidity, bugs, etc. Thus I'm late with this log (and August's will be, too).

Consequently, it's been another of those slow months at the editing desk:


Bye-bye:

  • Dont date Sandra Lloyd!!! by paulski – noder not quite clear on what a writeup should be. Offered advice and suggested reposting this as a daylog.

Fixing:

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