All, for some reason, David Marshall, our new Acting Managing Editor, can't post this message from his account. So I'm posting it for him. --Larry
================ Imagine you are walking up to my office door. There is a small piece of paper taped to the wall. An uneven scrawl reads: . . .writing is fun! We are all volunteers here. There is no money in it for now and, maybe, never. So, if not for money, then for glory? There's a very selfish world out there which, more often than not, takes whatever is offered for free without ever thinking to ask, "Who did all this work?" let alone saying "Thanks." In short, the only real motivation that can sustain us through the hours and days of labour ahead of us is the sheer enjoyment of taking part in a writing project that has a noble purpose. We are going to capture as much human knowledge as we can. Experts will apply solid and consistent editing standards to produce high quality informational content. Copy editors will produce consistency of style and presentation. And then we will have a comprehensive yet accessible repository of information to give to the world. Wipes steely glint from eyes and adopts statesmanlike expression, waiting for the wild cheering to subside. Management philosophy If you're not having fun, there must be a problem. If there's a problem, it's my job to make it disappear so you can get back to having some serious fun. I would like to be there with you doing all the writing, but I have two equally important tasks of my own. The first is to draft and agree a wide range of policies that will establish CZ as a publisher with the lowest possible exposure to external threats. Many in the world can react aggressively if they think that their cherished beliefs have been the subject of disrespect, that their standards of decency have not been respected, that their privacy has been breached, that their reputations have been damaged, that their intellectual property rights have been infringed, etc. It is a long list. I want to see CZ survive and prosper. Thus, I have to create an environment in which you have the space and as much freedom as possible to get on with the tasks of writing and editing, safe from interference. The second is the old cliche/: my door is always open. I say it's my job to solve your problems, but I don't know what your problems are unless you come and tell me. So, message me through the forum, e-mail me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or skype me @ dmar91. This is not going to work unless we all talk about what's going on and how we can do things better. That's right, do things better. We're not going to get this right when we start off. We will be a continuous work-in-progress, debugging the systems as we develop them. And that means you are as important, if not more important, than me. You're out there doing the job. What do I know? But one word of reassurance. I am a tweaker, i.e. I rarely ever make big changes. I nudge things a little bit in what I think is the right direction and watch what happens. If nobody complains, I nudge it again when I think the time is right. I am slow and incremental, absolutely committed to democratic decision making. That is why my virtual door is always open. Your suggestions, your comments, your criticisms are all a part of the process that collectively gives you ownership over this project. Without you, this project cannot hope to succeed. Who am I? I am an anachronism. Born cursed with intelligence but no sense, I wandered through the education system at my own pace, fending off boredom just long enough to inadvertently take the lead in the race to be the youngest law graduate of Birmingham University in post-war times. My first short story to use book collecting as an investment vehicle to flat-out genre horror. I have worked as a freelance editor and, for my sins, created Pumpkin Books which, in 1999, was shortlisted at the World Fantasy Convention as one of the best small presses of the year. From this you will understand that my life has been full of incident, not all of it very flattering, but potentially equipping me to cross cultural divides between nations and academic disciplines - at least, that's Larry's excuse for asking me to guide you through the first few weeks of this venture. After we have lift-off, we can review the situation. In the meantime, let's make it happen, people! David _______________________________________________ Citizendium-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.purdue.edu/mailman/listinfo/citizendium-l
