tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post7786281007506043322..comments2023-11-10T16:19:46.880-05:00Comments on Blogslot: EntitlementUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post-89795473381166333532008-10-06T21:29:00.000-04:002008-10-06T21:29:00.000-04:00Bill: That's right, AP almost always prefers a spa...Bill: That's right, AP almost always prefers a space over a compound word.<BR/><BR/>Random thoughts: My Sunday night slot gave me her unused stylebook (the '06 model; she uses one a few years old, with notes in the margins about updates and such).<BR/><BR/>The stylebook at the photo desk, by the way, is the 2000 edition. I'm probably the only photographer that's ever opened it.<BR/><BR/>Is there a Firefox dictionary plugin for AP style? There should be. It's telling me "stylebook" is misspelled, and that's just wrong.<BR/><BR/>What do (non-copy) editors do, besides send me to my doom*? Do they actually edit when they're there 9-5, or is it more just management and screwing with the guys on the street?<BR/><BR/>*A few weeks ago: "Go out in the hurricane and get some pics!" Today: Cat show. (I'm allergic to cat hair. Yippee! Why we covered this three days in a row, I have no idea. They don't even do tricks like at dog shows!)<BR/><BR/><BR/>My paper has definite slot and rim positions, even though I've never heard them use those terms and they also do page layout -- there's one person that answers the phone and takes my proofs to hand off to the other copy editors, and criticizes the others' heds; and there are the young guys (and girl) who do the inside pages and get yelled at a lot. <BR/><BR/>I think I've got it down now; the old-school main slot is at the one desk, and if he's not there the order of succession proceeds counterclockwise from there.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02398683686770280428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post-46282724773687506452008-09-19T16:08:00.000-04:002008-09-19T16:08:00.000-04:00If it makes you feel better, there are almost no "...If it makes you feel better, there are almost no "copy desk chiefs" left. <BR/><BR/>I'm both "slot" and "rim" on my paper (actually, in 22 years of work on five dailies, I've never worked on a universal desk and suspect they're part of an elaborate "snipe hunt" type of joke being played on me). My "official" title is local news copy editor; I call myself the "night and weekend editor."<BR/><BR/>Jim ThomsenJim Thomsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16436505068478971925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post-8808002797273686212008-09-01T17:25:00.000-04:002008-09-01T17:25:00.000-04:00Not yet, perhaps, but it is my life's mission now ...Not yet, perhaps, but it is my life's mission now to make sure that someday, you do.The Witchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17186321970855973916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post-36475696001308245632008-08-31T20:06:00.000-04:002008-08-31T20:06:00.000-04:00I figure being called a copy chief is better, in t...I figure being called a <I>copy chief</I> is better, in the same way that it is more prestigious to be the <BR/><I>editor-in-chief</I> than just a <I>city editor</I>, for instance.<BR/><BR/>But I guess the title is just another one of the quirks of the newspaper business.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12965779651412726761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post-17513927561103187262008-08-29T11:16:00.000-04:002008-08-29T11:16:00.000-04:00"Slot man" -- two words, not a suffix -- and I can..."Slot man" -- two words, not a suffix -- and I can't say I've heard it applied to a woman.Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01512881095588291721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post-13021887463981910492008-08-29T05:52:00.000-04:002008-08-29T05:52:00.000-04:00I don't know about bear religion (that's the one c...I don't know about bear religion (that's the one church I haven't shot -- being the Sunday photographer in East Texas has its boring moments), but I can get you some truly horrifying pictures of what the Pope does in the woods . . .<BR/><BR/>I'm sure at least two of my slotmen* (the old, jaded career editors) will know the term, the thirtysomething slot may get it (I wouldn't be surprised if he reads this -- Hi, Randy!), and it'll probably confuse the hell out of the fresh-from-college junior copy editors. I can't lose, really.<BR/><BR/>*One's a girl, but "-men" as a suffix is acceptable, right? I have an AP Stylebook around here somewhere, but you can probably tell me the answer faster than I can look it up.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02398683686770280428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post-21368313804532494722008-08-29T05:12:00.000-04:002008-08-29T05:12:00.000-04:00Is "slot" still used? Is a bear Catholic?Is "slot" still used? Is a bear Catholic?Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01512881095588291721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post-9609373296291060492008-08-29T04:39:00.000-04:002008-08-29T04:39:00.000-04:00Is "slot" still used in the industry? I just retur...Is "slot" still used in the industry? I just returned to the newspaper after a four-year hiatus, and I'm often confused about which poor dumb bastard still there at ten p.m. is in charge. I usually ask "who wants this?" while waving the proofs in the air, but "who's the slot man?" would be so much cooler.<BR/><BR/>(I'm a photographer, in case you were wondering. I'll always call guys like you copy editors, because I've seen the horrible misspelled not-quite-English stuff the reporters actually write, and it makes sense in the paper; that's some godlike editing. I like to think I'm better than the reporters, if only because the copy desk hardly ever changes my cutlines.)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02398683686770280428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7122549.post-48793634441648333642008-08-28T08:19:00.000-04:002008-08-28T08:19:00.000-04:00When I started on the copy desk, I called my paren...When I started on the copy desk, I called my parents and told them that I would start out as rim. Then be trained as a slot.<BR/><BR/>There was a pause. Then they asked, "These are good things?"<BR/><BR/>Depending on the paper, copy desk chief is a heavily administrative position. Many papers should use the title chief scapegoat (that's a rant for another day).<BR/><BR/>I held the position at a small paper but was called news editor. Sounded kind of ordinary to me. <BR/><BR/>Now that I'm on the online side, I'm a content producer. Sounds like I make people happy. I prefer Duke of URL.Carl V. Natalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17704964578998687352noreply@blogger.com