Readers Ask ....

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2003 8:48 am

Q. I'm a young copy editor on a desk with experienced hands and sometimes I don't know how to behave. Do you have any tips? -- Anonymous in L.A.A. Sure. We're overdue for a review of copy-desk etiquette anyhow:--Don't complain to the slot about a headline change unless the change makes it wrong.
--While you're at it, don't complain, period.
--Don't make a major production about errors you find in copy or on proof. Just fix them.
--Don't interrupt a colleague's discussion, unless it concerns a story assigned to you.
--Don't assume you have the standing to begin open debate with a colleague. Keep your challenges to private messages.
--Although mindless chatter has a long copy-desk tradition, learn to control it. When in doubt, STFU.
--Remember that respect is earned.
--Another clichÃ©: Don't miss the forest for the goddamn trees.E-mail questions to readersask@testycopyeditors.org [ December 04, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]

SeaRaven · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2003 1:28 pm

I have to agree. That is a superb list, even with the Blanchardian edge on it. There's more wisdom there than four years of j-school could ever impart. I wish someone had shown me that list when I was 21.

RimRat · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2003 8:54 pm

Failure to comply will result in detention.

Emily Salmon · **Joined:** Sat Nov 16, 2002 1:01 am **Posts:** 86

<blockquote>quote:<hr> I'm a young copy editor on a desk with experienced hands and sometimes I don't know how to behave <hr></blockquote>OK, I interpreted this totally the wrong way.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2003 10:09 pm

Add to that list that a stranger is a friend you haven't met yet, so don't rely on first impressions.
The seeming grump may turn out to be a gentle person of great humour and sunny disposition.
A stranger is just a friend you haven't yet met, as the Irish saying goes.

Gatekeeper · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2003 6:55 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Emily Salmon:
I'm a young copy editor on a desk with experienced hands and sometimes I don't know how to behave.***OK, I interpreted this totally the wrong way.<hr></blockquote>Heh. I second that!Gatekeeper-30-

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Mon Dec 08, 2003 6:55 pm

I really like the one about people whining to the slot about hed changes. There is one person at my paper who is world-class at whining when heds are changed.I can't understand it. I just can't.

Jackie · **Posted:** Mon Dec 08, 2003 9:07 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Bumfketeer:
I really like the one about people whining to the slot about hed changes. There is one person at my paper who is world-class at whining when heds are changed.I can't understand it. I just can't.<hr></blockquote>You would have loved working with our Intern From Hell who complained mightily about any change. We still fondly recall the flat-out wrong heds, nonsensical heds, totally-missed-the-point heds. He wanted to sit behind the slot and ask questions. Read that challenge the slot if he/she changed anything he wrote. (Insert loud laughter here.) Well, that is when he actually came to work.
He once asked the desk chief when he'd get to do A1. No, the desk chief explained.[ December 08, 2003: Message edited by: Jackie ]

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