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This is a topic that comes up all too often in comments, lambasting editors or praising them.
As it stands, editorial is a black box, they accept submissions, fettle them, then they appear as stories. Recently, the Original Submission link appeared on stories so you can see what went in and what appeared out of that black box, yet still the complaints come.
Just how much transparency is necessary? (This is an open question not rhetorical)
I like to believe that SoylentNews is the people that form it as a community, and the editing should reflect that.
Should we adopt some version control for subs so everyone can see who edited what through the pipeline that goes from sub to front page?
Thoughts on a postcard please.
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META: Editorial Transparency - What do you want?
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There's no such thing as an original sin.
-- Elvis Costello
(Score: 3, Interesting) by q.kontinuum on Friday May 29 2015, @09:58AM
As I mentioned, I'm thankful for the efforts of the editors as it is, without reservations, and I definitely have neither the time nor the ambition to usurp any of you. Also I highly appreciate the quality of articles the way they are now. It was only once that I had a feeling my submission was changed to the worse, and even in that case it was a matter of opinion and for me only a minor issue anyway.
Juggs asked what could be improved in regards to transparency. I took it as an opportunity to bring in an idea I'd consider an improvement, as it would make the process of offering additions to the original submission more transparent. My idea would be that the original submitter gets the karma-bonus and credit, but the editor gets a chance to pick some supplementary links / additional information from the comments. Also, the moderation system would provide some hint if a story is in high demand or probably a troll. I'm not saying the community should get the final decision, just proposals.
If you think this makes the job of the editor harder, don't do it. As I see it, we don't have a problem, so no need to fix it.
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday May 29 2015, @10:51AM
I hope that you didn't think that I was suggesting that was your intention - I wasn't. Thanks for your kind words. I will confess that I wish that this entire sequence of events had never occurred (I will have to be more careful with my edits in future).
I was simply intending to give an alternative point of view regarding the possibility of the community taking some role in the editing of stories. While I am pleased to see suggestions that will both enhance the quality of this site and involve the community more, in this instance I feel that the extra editorial workload, additional coding effort and the establishing of the appropriate procedures and controls are not justified by the perceived benefits. That is only my view however - I am not speaking for other editors nor for SN.