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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions Editors Only Primary Instructions for Editors; Must reading for all editors. Instructions For Editors 6/6/09
Here some FAQs created for new volunteer editors. Please check them out: (use control right click to go to the page on the web.)
Volunteer Opportunities at OpEdNews Detailed Instructions for Editors on Editing the Queue Tips for Editors on Evaluating Articles in The Queue Being an OpEdNews Volunteer Editor Editor FAQ: Responding to a Flagged article What Happens After I Submit An Article-- How We Evaluate and Respond discusses some article acceptance criteria. My article or Diary Lost its Spacing or Other Formatting
How To Embed URL Links in Text, to Make Words Clickable This is must know for an editor. If you see really long URLs in articles, you’ll want to embed them in text so they don’t distort the shape of the final article page.
Not exactly for editors, but may come in handy if a writer asks for help Can't Find My Article, even though it was published.
FAQ: Got an OpEdNews Problem/Bug? Good FAQ to know to refer people to if they are having problems. Now that you’ve read the FAQs, let’s continue. Before you reject any articles, in the beginning of your work in the queue, please send them to me to check out if they are not obviously unacceptable because of hate, bigotry or horrendous writing, or a really obvious sales pitch or terrible formatting. We’ve had some experience with this and it’s good for you to fine tune your idea of what to reject before actually clicking on the reject button. I’d like to see ten articles that you would reject, or whatever you would reject in the first two weeks, whatever comes first, with a minimum of four articles up for rejection, before you start rejections on your own.
Here are some answers to questions from a new volunteer editor:
These are some of the things i struggle with when i consider editing:
that i'm going to accidentally delete someone's work! No way to do that unless you click on the delete box, then take another step and click on delete articles button.
that i'm going to be too picky and have a hard time moving something forward. Nothing wrong with picky. If you’re not sure about an article, you can leave a comment for other editors to see, so someone else makes the decision, but with your added input. There ARE iffy articles that concensus among editors decides.
knowing the fine line between acceptable and not acceptable with regards to content, writing level, etc. Again, if you’re not sure, leave a comment.
couple questions: sometimes i see articles on opednews and i question the authenticity of the idea or attribution. so, i wonder what are the guidelines for requiring sources and fact checks. do the editors do that or must the writers provide it? Writers should do it. If you doubt a claim or feel the writer is not convincing, it’s perfectly appropriate to reject the article for further editing, adding a personalized note to the form letter instructing the writer to resubmit the editor with the support or documentation you specify.
what if it is a subject matter that the editor is really not that familiar with. does it matter in terms of judging the content? how do you get around that? or, are you simply focusing on the article's "readability." It’s a plus if you are an expert, but we can’t wait around for experts to cover articles. Focus on readability and credibility. We can depend on our readers to correct the article in the comments.
What if it’s not a political article? Welcome it. Think of OEN as being like a weekly newsmagazine or daily newspaper that covers all kinds of topics, particularly on the inside pages. Very often these kinds of articles (sports, cooking, travel, think pieces, science, arts-) go in the LIFE-ARTS SCI section. This applies to articles on ETs, UFOs, etc., in particular. We get more of these than I’d like to publish, so be tough on them.
do editors ever rework a sentence or title for better reading without consulting the writer or does it always go back to the writer with a note? Absolutely. Writers guidelines make it clear. If there’s a paragraph that kills the article, then excise it and run the article. Title weak? Re-write it entirely. No description, add one. And then, tell the writer what you did and advise that he or she should have included a description.
How often do articles get sent back for reworking, or get rejected, or turned into diaries. how often do editors go back and forth with writers. Some writers this happens with a lot. Some cruise through. Usually, back and forth only happens once. Some editors reject a lot more than others. I always encourage, that if you’re not sure, add a comment for the other editors that it looks like it should be rejected but you’re not sure. Others will get in on the picture.
When should I publish articles as diaries instead of articles? Keep in mind that diaries are published live, without editing or screening. Diaries are not crawled by google news. If an article is not well written, if it has nothing new to say, and does not rate publication as an article, it probably qualifies to be published as a diary. Or, if an article has been submitted using a handle or obviously fake name for the byline, publish it as a diary. We no longer ALLOW articles to be published with handles. If an article has hate speech, or if it makes you feel bad, or disgusted, then reject it. If an article makes you angry, it may be a good one to publish and then leave a comment on, disagreeing with it. NEVER call writers names. Always attack the ideas, not the person. A good guideline is, will you be proud to have published it either as a diary or an article and can you justify your decision? Don't worry, you generally won't be asked to. I've found that maybe one out of 5,000 articles approved are disputed by senior editorial team members. We back up our line editors. And keep in mind that you can be proud to publish an article you disagree with, even one by a conservative, if it will generate good comments, including comments that will thoroughly debunk the "con" arguments and help readers to see how to effectively debunk.
The article is written by a right winger. Should I publish or reject it. If it’s not toxic and nasty, you may want to publish it, either as an article or a diary. Either way, you may want to publish it, then comment on it immediately, disagreeing with it, attacking the IDEAS.
The article contains sexist language. Check out this article to get a good idea about guidelines relating to sexist language:
The article has been published on the writer’s blog or website. That’s fine and the writer CAN claim that the article is exclusive if it has only been posted on the writer’s site.
Okay. Now, let’s take a look at the queue.
Log in at www.opednews.com/admin
The most recent articles are at the bottom. Check how many articles are listed. Only 50 show on a page, so, if there are more than 50, the older ones are on the second page. We’d really like you to start off clearing out the older articles first. Also check for red text which shows articles that are time sensitive. Don't let writers abuse this. If an article is flagged as time sensitive and it is not, please warn them not to do it again. Now, let’s review the Queue columns.
Titles and author are in the left column, with word count. Articles in Orange are quicklinks. You need to actually check out the link to see that it works, that it’s on a credible site, not a non-credible site, a hate site or someone’s blog that the submitter is trying to promote. Some links to blogs are okay, but only if the person also submits articles.
Note, on the left column, a number in parentheses. That’s the number of words in the article. Next, in the same column, there’s the title, then the pen name, if the user uses one, followed by a real name. We don’t publish articles by people with goofy, handle looking pen names, unless we know who they are. Many people will use a pen name, but have registered with their real name, which you’ll see. If there is no identification of who the person actually is, publish the article as a diary. More on that later.
Titles: Our writers guidelines make it very clear that we have the right to change titles. If you can think of a better title for an article, by modifying or replacing the one the author supplied—go ahead and change it. Think of titles that would be better as headlines. Some writers just don’t do well at titling. So help them.
URLS or links to other sites are NEVER allowed in this field.
Second from Left Column: Exclusivity Some writers give us 24, 48 or 72 hours of exclusivity. You may want to check those out first, since we are being given special treatment from them. (BTW, if they post to their personal website, I don’t consider that interfering with giving exclusivity.)
Description Articles should have descriptions. We can publish without them, but ask the author to add one, or add one yourself. URLS or links to other sites are NEVER allowed in this field and we don't want to include the source of the article there either. Category Make sure the writer has selected the proper category. Change it if you disagree. It’s your call. If there’s opinion in it, then it’s not news, even if there is new information. You can change the category at the accept/reject page, so you don’t have to go into MODIFY to change it.
Tags Make sure the article has all the tags it should. If there is a locale involved in the article, or a member of congress, make sure they are tagged. Green words represent articles tagged for groups. I'd like to see those, plus articles with deadline dates in red and exclusive articles addressed before other articles.
Date Added Each article is time and date stamped. Some writers submit more than one of the same article. Always delete the older one and assume the more recent one is the one to use. If there’s a red date, that means the article is more time sensitive. Please check those articles first.
Status: Accept/Reject You’ll rarely use this directly, unless you make a modification first.
VIEW This is where you’ll usually go, to check out an article or quicklink. You can mouse over the word VIEW to see a pop-up bubble which shows your the first few hundred words in the item.
Click Modify to edit any aspect of the item submitted. You can edit. You can fix typos, grammar, misused words. You can delete a sentence or paragraph if it kills the article, like, if it says something offensive or uncivil. We want to keep this site civil. That doesn’t mean you are censoring. You are maintaining standards. People can say things in a civil way. If they take offense, too bad—good riddance. Professional writers and grownups will deal with editing. Most will be appreciative. Don’t hesitate to help make the article better or save it from failing as an article. Formatting. Some articles come in with formatting problems. The font should be verdana 10 point. Minor accents can be bigger, but not the major body of the text. Some articles lose paragraph formatting. This usually happens when an article is copied from MS WORD or some other word processor that builds underlying formatting into the text. If the user has just used text, without italics, bold, blockquotes or embedded links, it’s easy to fix. Just copy the text, go to modify, then click on the legacy button at the bottom of the text submit box. Paste the text in. and then click the HTML button. Usually that will work.
Articles to View First: In the tags column, green words represent articles tagged for groups. We'd like to see those, plus articles with deadline dates in red and exclusive articles addressed before other articles.
Article Acceptance Criteria Good, smart writing, good ideas, preferably , but not absolutely the former. Hot news, different, new viewpoints and perspectives, great quotes and sourcing. Does the article keep your interest, make you think get you asking questions or ask you good questions?
You can certainly disagree with articles and still accept them, even right wing articles. If you accept an article you disagree with, you may want to add a comment immediately after the article.
Article Rejection Criteria q Hate speech, meanspirited, uncivil, unkind.
q Unsubstantiated, unsupported claims q Bad writing, obvious failure to proofread or spell check., ie., typos, misspellings, grammatical errors. q The author insults readers or calls them names. q Old, out of date news or discussion, eg., an article on presidents day the day after it occurred, or an article on news that happened four days ago. Day after holiday articles don’t work. Two or three day after news event articles might work, especially if added depth and context and background are added. q Nothing new—rehashing old ideas with no new perspectives. Frankly, I let some of these through if they are well written with good narrative, imagery, etc. And I’ll use it to reject rants that tend to be offensive just going over old ground. This is so often the cse for 911 related articles. q Problems with format—paragraphs lost, too much big, tiny, colored fonts, too many different fonts. We prefer 10 point verdana font. The rejection message gives ideas on how to fix the problems and prevent them in the future. q Personal sob stories. Only use these if they reflect national issues and include narrative adding that context q Too short., too long. We’ll accept an article of any length, but some people say 600 words worth in 3000 words. Look for the beef and if there’s too much fat, send back the article be edited down. We prefer articles of 500-1200 words. q Quicklink to a blog by an anonymous person. Do not publish quicklinks to blogs where it is not clear who the person is, or where the blog uses a “handle” and there is no bio describing who the source really is. q Author uses a fake name and does not identify who he or she is in bio or registration. Remember, in the byline area, the real name of the person is listed in parentheses, if a pen name is used. If there is no real name in parentheses, or if the parentheses also contain a pen name, the article must not be posted as an article. It CAN be posted as a diary. There are a few exceptions—George Washington, Constance Lavender. I know who they are. And don’t forget to check the bio. Some members use a handle but identify themselves in their bio. q Not really an article, more of a link. You can go to MODIFY then convert the article to a quicklink. q Chronic convict stories; Abu Mumia, Russell Means, o we get submissions from people who have a drunk relative who they want to make a federal case out of it. We publish mumia's writing, but don't want to cover prisoners unless there are national or constitutional or human rights issues,
q Promotional: Selling products, promoting a website. Hard sells are inappropriate. A book review is okay, but not a sales pitch for a book. What to do with articles that don’t make it as articles. Always remember that members could have posted their article as a diary, without moderation by an editor. If you don’t find an article acceptable as an article, consider publishing it as a diary. If the article contains hate speech, offensive content or is just awful, you can reject it. If it is written so badly , it would be an embarassment to the site, in your subjective opinion, that’s good enough for me, reject it. But if the article as marginal, if it’s too short, you might publish it as a diary. If you want the article on the front page, make sure you unclick the check box below the box that has the different action options. Otherwise, the article will not appear on the front page. Article Acceptance/Rejection or Conversion to Diary Once you’ve made up your mind whether to accept, reject or convert an article to a diary or quicklink, you need to perform the action you’ve decided upon. Click on the accept/reject link for the article. That will take you to a new page. 1- make sure that the appropriate article category is checked off. If the writer has expressed opinion in the article, it is an OpEdNews op-ed 2- Select acceptance or rejection email message Note there is a field with an arrow on the right side of it. That will enable you to accept or reject all articles and quicklinks. This tool contains a collection of options for sending emails to the article author, each with a different message. To the right of the tool, there’s a clickable text link View Email Messages that enables you to read the different messages. I encourage you to do this so you are familiar with the content of these messages, which will be an integral part of your work in the queue. If you want to accept the article or quicklink, leave it as it defaults, “Accept Article with Thanks” If you choose to reject the article, select the appropriate message. If you use the following messages, you don’t need to include a personal comment: promotional, no permission, format problem too old, nothing new prisoner advocacy
But for the other rejections, it is best to include specific reasons for rejections, and if sent back for editing, what needs to be done. Use the ADD MESSAGE field below the message selection field to write your message. It will appear after the message as a Postscript. PS.
Be Kind When you reject Remember, these are living humans, even the right wingers. Pretend you are sending your rejection to someone you love and care about. Don’t ever be cruel. But do be firm. If you think the article is out of line, racist, hateful, etc., say so. Rejection messages are sent anonymously to protect our editors from abuse. The writer will not know your name or email unless you include them. They can reply to you through our system, and will still not know who you are. Be careful, if you want to remain anonymous, not to reply directly. 3- VERY IMPORTANT! remember the Front Page Inclusion Check Box If you want the article to appear on the front page, UNCHECK the box below the message selection field. This is the most common omission mistake by new editors. Ifyou don’t uncheck it, the article will not appear on the front page and you and/or I will get an email asking where the article is. There are some articles that should not be on the front page: UFO and other weird stuff that fit into the edges hot page, 911 truther articles, articles that are very specific to a locale, that our national or worldwide readership won't be interested in. We WANT these articles, but don't want them on the front page. They should go on tag pages and maybe hot pages. Since OpEdNews is set up to support local news and media and groups, there will be times when an article is appropriate for OpEdNews, but not for the front page, particularly when the content covered is very local or targeted to a specific group. Currenly, it is rare that articles are not featured on the front page, unless they come from India, Nepal or other areas, where writers are covering local topics. 4- Recommend an article for promotion: Just below the Front page inclusion check box, there’s a check box for articles you think deserve promotion to headline status. Check off the article before you submit it and that will tell the managing editors who do article promotion that you’re recommending it to be promoted, almost a sure guarantee it will be promoted. Because OpEdNews is a non-profit, non-partisan site, we are not promoting pro or con candidate op-ed articles. But articles with news are definitely promotable. Not enough editors use this box. You should use it with at least 20% of your approved articles. WE average about 40-60 articles a day, not including quicklinks 4- click on the button further down, to the right, . with red text Do The Action Unless you have decided to publish the article as a diary. If you want to publish the article as a diary, use the PUBLISH AS DIARY button instead. A new page appears after you click either publish as diary or do the action. There are DIGG and REDDIT icons if you want to help promote the article. At the top, there’s a clickable link to the article’s page, so you can comment.
Once the article is published, you may want to comment on it, especially if you really like it or disagree with it. I encourage this. Comments bring more comments and more readers.
-We have some new abilities for editors: Easy editing of articles Easy to add tags
Easy editing of articles You can now, if you are logged in, see an edit link, next to the author byline for articles, diaries and below the title, for quicklinks. You can use it to easily edit articles that need corrections.
Easy to add tags Now, if you notice that an article should have a tag that it's missing, you can easily add it. At the end of list of already existing tags, there's a link for adding additional tags. Just click it and you can add the tag or tags you know are missing. Tags are an important part of the glue that holds together the website, so people stay longer, read more pages. Our tagging system definitely makes a difference. Adding key missing tags will help add to the "stickiness" of the site.
Notes to Editors on Israel/Palestine, Middle East I'm reviewing a touchy area that i want to be sure you are aware of. The Israel Palestine conflict has been going on for over 50 years. I don't want to enable it to go on here too.
So I've instituted a policy for articles. If you disagree, if you have suggestions on how to improve it, I'd value your input. But I do ask that you respect that a lot of thought and soul searching has gone into this.
No bashing of Israel or Palestine.
You can report on good news on either side. That's encouraged. Israelis may criticize Israel. Palestinians may criticize Palestine. Criticism of US policy is fine. Criticism of specific policies may be okay. Generally, bringing up Zionists is not great, unless you're Jewish or really doing a nuanced discussion. I see too many shallow attempts to substitute the word "Zionists" for "Jews". . I encourage discussion, by Jews of issues with Zionism. Bernie Wiener wrote a decent piece, < ahref="http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_bernard__060321_anti_semitism_and_th.htm">Anti-Semitism and the New "Jews" which is a good example of what worked.
I don't feel great putting out these rules, but I have seen some articles come in that just went too far. I'm Jewish, and I don't like the way Israel and their right wing fundamentalist extremists who seem to run the country do things. So, if you were to write an article criticizing policies of specific politicians, that would probably work. If you don't like Ohmert and you want to write about what he says or d |
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