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Hi folks, just a short note for this month. Work was busy with some critical software patches and some tricky
personnel issues. Home life was hectic as well. I intend to add a number of IVF related writeups soon, sharing some hard-won experience in this area. I hope to add one that starts out by saying "It worked!" -- I can't write that one yet though.
Everything: The Forum
sam512 raised a number of concerns about e2's management and operation. We managed to answer some of them, and others were addressed by Apatrix's creation of THE EVERYTHING FORUM!. I only just got off my virtual posterior and signed up now, so I don't have much to say about it yet. I'm user 287 so it seems that it's doing well so far! I hope to be a bit more active there after the holiday season.
Senior admin (e2gods) staff changes
Long-time admin yossarian stepped down from the e2gods usergroup to pursue his graduate studies. I hear that those are tricky things to catch, like landing a marlin*. dann added JohnnyGoodyear to the e2gods usergroup in yossarian's place (many of you noticed right away when JG's $ became a @). dann and I talked about some other minor changes to the e2gods roster that we will likely implement in December -- largely making official some semi-retirements that have already taken place.
dann and I have agreed that he will manage the e2gods usergroup, and I'll manage the Content Editors (CEs). I am hoping to change this group up a bit for the new year as well. The current team has been keeping things ticking along, yet this group has been a bit more passive than I'd like. I hope to see some more quests, contests, challenges, and other content-stimulating activities in 2006 and I'll be looking to the CEs to lead the way.
Who and what are Content Editors?
CEs are the folks who help to guide and shape the content of E2. When the site's content is good, and we're getting quality new material, then the editors are content, as it should be. CEs are not simply "Content Removers"! There's always a need for that power, but we've evolved away from the days of "delete first and debate later". It's an evolution of process that continues today.
I will be asking any new volunteers for the Content Editor team to fill out a short 'bio' for me, which I hope to post
in these monthly editor logs when the CE team changes. I hope that CEs will also place these on their home nodes.
I'd love to see all of the current admins do this as well, and intend to do it myself. In fact, I'd hope that many
experienced users will respond to these questions! But for the Content Editor team, seeing the answers will help us
ensure we have balanced site coverage, and it will show us where we have weak spots and need to recruit expertise.
Here's my best shot at a short but informative CE bio:
Writeups
Short explanations are optional, but may prove helpful.
- List 3 to 5 writeups (not your own) that epitomize what's special about everything2 for you.
- List 2 or 3 writeups (your own) with which you're most pleased.
- List 2 or 3 writeups (anyone's) to which you would point new users as an example of "how to write for e2".
Mentoring/Community
- At what time or times are you typically active on e2 and accessible for user questions and help?
- Are you an active member of the Mentoring team, or if not, would you be willing to join?
- Are you a subject matter expert to whom the admin team can go for content advice? If so, in what area(s)?
- Are you a leader or an active, contributing member of any e2 usergroups?
Bio questions rejected
I toyed with asking Are there any writeups that you'd want to delete on your first day on the team? If so, which ones and why? but I decided that this was not useful. It's too negative and it focuses on removal,
which I don't want to be the primary mission. Further, bad content is (in the main) ephemeral,
and so there's nothing to be gained from pointing it out.
Content issues
There was some discussion about the use of abbreviations and acronyms, especially in technical nodes. Transitional Man recommended that abbreviations be spelled out at first use with the abbreviation in parentheses and then be abbreviated thereafter. This matches with my preferences. Judicious use of pipe links can also help, but this interrupts the flow of reading for most people.
Several people have also recommended changing the underlined hard link to a simple colo(u)r change, as Wikipedia does, to help with reading. As this is more code than content, all I can say is, wait for the blessed day when we get a new code base, and then all things will be possible. Well, lots more things, anyway....
The Good Stuff
I was remiss in hunting up anything for this section this time. Help me write next month's version, tell me about stuff from December that you loved!
Page of Cool rewards as always, with smartalix being especially diligent about nominating stuff. (smartalix, btw, has an excellent home node bio already!)
Coming in December
I'm late with this post, so December's already well underway. I think everyone's going to try and get through the month safe and sane, and then we'll try to start off 2006 with some new content-generating activities. Cheers!
Marlin didn't link to what I wanted. Do I have the wrong fish?