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Author	Message
Phillip Blanchard	Post subject: Be careful what you write and where you write it Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 6:15 am
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 8342 Location: Bethesda, Md.	Firing of tweeting newspaper reporter upheld by NLRB *** I was always careful about what I wrote about my employers on this forum. Usually I wrote nothing at all. ***
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copynomad	Post subject: Re: Be careful what you write and where you write it Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 12:00 pm
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:07 am Posts: 623	The fired guy sounds like an idiot.
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KfitzR	Post subject: Re: Be careful what you write and where you write it Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 12:44 pm
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 12:01 am Posts: 836 Location: New Brunswick, Canada	I know I would not like to be handling his grievance.
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copynomad	Post subject: Re: Be careful what you write and where you write it Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 2:00 pm
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:07 am Posts: 623	Agreed. It'd be even worse if you had to supervise him.
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Heartodixie	Post subject: Re: Be careful what you write and where you write it Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 9:10 pm
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:15 am Posts: 1432 Location: Alabamer	*supervise*
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copynomad	Post subject: Re: Be careful what you write and where you write it Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 12:26 am
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:07 am Posts: 623	Supervising an idiot is actually way more work, with limited return, than supervising someone good. The good people need little supervising. With an idiot, a slacker or such, supervisors waste a lot of time rolling a rock uphill every day, trying to get even mediocre performance, until you can shit can them if needed. Getting rid of them takes a lot of documentation and time, unless you want to invite a successful lawsuit or other complications. Meanwhile, that's time that could've been spent on editing stories or doing something else productive. It's pretty easy to manage good people. A good supervisor helps people get better if possible, and knows how to get rid of those who drag everyone else down. Bad workers basically screw their companies and their co-workers.
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jjmoney62	Post subject: Re: Be careful what you write and where you write it Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 9:33 pm
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2002 12:01 am Posts: 3135 Location: Albuquerque, N.M. USA	Not that anyone's bitter ...
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copynomad	Post subject: Re: Be careful what you write and where you write it Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 11:00 pm
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:07 am Posts: 623	Actually, that was typed matter-of-factly. That's just how I talk, but you don't know me. I used to be frustrated when I slotted a bunch of slackers, but didn't manage them. That led me into management at another paper. Within a year, I was recruited elsewhere for six figures, so I'm actually grateful to the slackers and our gutless manager.  I never wanted to manage anyone, and it turns out I'm good at it. I basically use the gutless manager as an anti-role model, and my bosses love me for me for that, lol.  The best part is helping people get better at their work. All you can do is offer help, though. Some people lack the smarts or work ethic. In that case, I help show them the door. I don't dislike them, though. I actually feel for them. It must suck to stink at your chosen work. It's not right that the good people have to carry them, though. They already work hard enough.
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"This is like group therapy with prisoners in the Poynter Institute's dungeon." ... "You take a vocation that the simple-minded consider to be mere drudgery, and you exploit every bit of fascinating and humorous nuance imaginable." ... "Delicious" ... "Ask your professors? The only professors whose opinions matter are named Walsh, Blanchard and McIntyre." ... "What I come here for, I can find ONLY here. Phillip, you've built a great place." ... "Nothing gets us hotter than reading bitchy discussion threads from over-exhausted copy editors endlessly debating the merits of "theater" versus "theatre." ... "I love this site. It's better than the Kool-Aid acid tests." ..."I'm awed at the efficiency with which matters of opinion get hashed out in this forum." ... "Phil is the bomb!" ... "I'd wager that it's exactly your sort of hidebound thinking that contributes to the problems newspapers are having attracting readers." ... "I'm totally obsessed with this site. It's like porn--if you get off on Scrabble." ... "It reveals the backstage carping and vindictive emotions that roil the souls of those trapped at the copy desks." "When they say "testy," they certainly mean it. Whether it's reporters, editors, or the general public, no one is above their savage snark." ... "An apparent crack in the thin grey line." ..."Testy Copy Editors is a bitchboard for journalism's underclass." ... "My desire to read 'Testy Copy Editors' is only rivalled by my desire to pop "Constipated Call Girls" in the DVD player." ... "Phillip Blanchard is not just a testy copy editor, but a prophet scorned in his own time, and those of us who defend wordplay will be punished for it come the Judgment Day." ... "Phil Blanchard is as dashing in person as he is at the TCE board." ... "As far as writing and editing go: Read this board, read Bill Walsh, memorize the style book, read William Zinsser, and read the New York Times. That's a good start." ... "You should let go of your bitterness. You were not the oppressed talent you thought yourself to be. You were a miserable, brooding, silent, joyless grind, lucky to have a job at the Sun-Times, and we're lucky now that you've moved on to afflict others."

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