I've determined the most straight-forward way to improve the board is to reduce editorialization and increase accuracy of headlines and subtitles.
For instance:
Culture prefix and title different from the story. Implies that in some country, library, school, whatever - an old book (like the Common Sense pamphlet) has been banned because its take on speech is too hostile.
Reality:
The title I gave the thread is the same title as the actual article, which is an opinion piece from the author of a book that was scheduled to be published by Emerald Press. Emerald Press backtracked. A direct quote from the article:
"I am contacting you in regard to your manuscript In Defense of Free Speech: The University as Censor. Emerald believes that its publication, in particular in the United Kingdom, would raise serious concerns. By the nature of its subject matter, the work addresses sensitive topics of race, religion, and gender. The challenging manner in which you handle these topics as author, particularly at the beginning of the work, whilst no doubt editorially powerful, increase the sensitivity and the risk of reaction and legal challenge. As a result, we have taken external legal advice on the contents of the manuscript and summarize our concerns below."
There's a lot of difference in the two headlines. The big one is that, this isn't an existing property. We're not burning the constitution. It's an article by a man who just lost money writing a hit piece on their former business partner for declining to publish their book over concerns relating to UK censorship and speech hostility.
I'm thinking what we should do is just enlist two people who can do this. Make the titles reflect the actual article's title, make sure the article isn't complete garbage and is archived in some way, and make sure the subtitle and prefix accurately reflect the article.
I'll recuse my normal contempt for volunteering because I don't think most people would want this kind of responsibility. I do not want moderators. This is not a moderation duty. You are not moderating conversation. This is a clerical responsibility, making sure the thread index is adherent to what the articles are about, and making sure the OPs are responsible in archiving and presenting content.
Nominate yourself or, preferably, someone else for this here.
For instance:
Culture prefix and title different from the story. Implies that in some country, library, school, whatever - an old book (like the Common Sense pamphlet) has been banned because its take on speech is too hostile.
Reality:
The title I gave the thread is the same title as the actual article, which is an opinion piece from the author of a book that was scheduled to be published by Emerald Press. Emerald Press backtracked. A direct quote from the article:
"I am contacting you in regard to your manuscript In Defense of Free Speech: The University as Censor. Emerald believes that its publication, in particular in the United Kingdom, would raise serious concerns. By the nature of its subject matter, the work addresses sensitive topics of race, religion, and gender. The challenging manner in which you handle these topics as author, particularly at the beginning of the work, whilst no doubt editorially powerful, increase the sensitivity and the risk of reaction and legal challenge. As a result, we have taken external legal advice on the contents of the manuscript and summarize our concerns below."
There's a lot of difference in the two headlines. The big one is that, this isn't an existing property. We're not burning the constitution. It's an article by a man who just lost money writing a hit piece on their former business partner for declining to publish their book over concerns relating to UK censorship and speech hostility.
I'm thinking what we should do is just enlist two people who can do this. Make the titles reflect the actual article's title, make sure the article isn't complete garbage and is archived in some way, and make sure the subtitle and prefix accurately reflect the article.
I'll recuse my normal contempt for volunteering because I don't think most people would want this kind of responsibility. I do not want moderators. This is not a moderation duty. You are not moderating conversation. This is a clerical responsibility, making sure the thread index is adherent to what the articles are about, and making sure the OPs are responsible in archiving and presenting content.
Nominate yourself or, preferably, someone else for this here.
