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Myself and other submitters have noticed that articles are being edited to change the tone and intent of our stories.
Soylentil McD has suggested that "Minor edits, spelling corrections, and such, are no problem and to be expected." but "I think soylent editors should adhere to a policy of not putting words in the submitter's mouth".
I agree with that. If the editors want to add their own two cents, they can respond inline like the rest of us. Their role here is to be responsible, not privileged.
The stories we submit are a reflection of our enthusiasms and beliefs, the tone and character of those posts is as much part of the submitter's story as the actual content. The community is what makes sites like SN and Slashdot before it, an eclectic community with a wide range of opinions, styles and passions will always be more active and interesting than a bland monoculture. SN's editors should embrace and encourage that diversity, not sabotage it to appease some corporate interests.
So what do other Soylentils think? Should the submissions be allowed to stand as a clear reflection of the community's intent, or should the editors change our submissions to suit their perception of suitability?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by GungnirSniper on Sunday May 24 2015, @07:44PM
It would be nice if the site had a "submitted by" field as part of the header like the "posted by" that indicates the editor. Like this, without the hosts showing:
Submitted by sigma [mailto], posted by n1 [soylentnews.org] on Sunday May 24, @06:06AM.
This would also make it easier for our editors since they wouldn't need to manually create the "So-and-so writes:" line. And this would also allow the block-submitter feature that some users request occasionally.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday May 24 2015, @08:11PM
Agreed, that would make the problem go away, and allow the original submitter's lead in to prevail.
OTOH, there is no reason why we need to start off our submissions with the cited article up front. (I admit I do this myself quite a bit). You can open the submission with a table setter paragraph, or even with your own opinion, and then drift into the supporting quotes and links.
Since we all know that the "submitter" writes.... is going to be there, we can try to work around it.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.