Bookworm Room

Bookworm on Apr 18 2009 at 12:41 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized

In response to my “I’m overloaded” post, Charles Martel suggested more of a collaborative effort here. I would be delighted. I’ve long wondered why some of my more prolific commenters haven’t used their knowledge, erudition and wit to start their own blogs, and have only been grateful that they haven’t decided to compete with me.

I agree with Charles that I’d like to keep control over access to the blog (in significant part because I’m simply a control freak). What I envision is something akin to the way Charles Lifson has managed the contributions to his stellar site, American Thinker. People send him proposed contributions in the form of emails or document files and, if he likes them, he publishes them.

In terms of content, you all are pretty familiar with my rules: If you make factual assertions that aren’t common knowledge, support them with a link.* Snarkiness and sarcasm are fine (God knows, I use them enough myself), but crude personal insults and attacks, against either individuals or groups, are not allowed. No obscenity either and, like Potter Stewart, I’ll know it when I see it.

I’ll do minimal editing. It’s always easier to proofread someone else’s work than it is to read your own, so I’ll do a scan for obvious typos or grammatical errors. I will not rewrite your work. If I love what you wrote, but don’t feel it’s quite right for the site, I may send it back to you with a request for a change in focus or style.

This is obviously an experiment but, truth to tell, it feels right, and I’m already excited about the possibilities.

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* Regarding links, my suggestion is that, immediately after the relevant text, you simply insert the URL. I’ll then create the link. So, for example, you’d write: “Many people think Singing in the Rain http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/ is the best musical ever made.” I’ll then edit it so it reads thusly: “Many people think Singing in the Rain is the best musical ever made.”

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