[Imc-web] Editing Etiquette and Noting Some Needed Updates Again

[Mike Lehman]

I've added Brian Dolinar to the imc-web list, since he apparently didn't 
add himself to the list when I suggested that this was SOP for web 
editors after he was granted editing privileges. All web editors must be 
on this list, as it is the primary means by which this function is 
handled at UC IMC.

Just to go over this again -- although I know that everyone should 
already be aware of this, because I made sure to CC the info to Brian 
the last time it came up a couple of weeks ago.

If you make a story into a Feature, please remember that you should send 
a brief message to this list, including a link to the story as a 
feature, with a brief justification for why the feature was created.

Announcements, except for IMC events, are generally not made into 
features. Exceptions can be made, but this justification must be 
included as part of the feature justification.

I want to raise one thing I do have a concern with, given the ways 
things have been going. The feature that Brian created today announces 
the upcoming plea bargain date for the long-running Myers story, which 
has been the subject of numerous prior features. My recall on this is 
not perfect, but most of its content has actually been previously 
featured. And I suspect that this story may finally be resolved this 
coming week, after many false starts. Then I presume that Brian will do 
a story on what is actually new news, the outcome.

So I am a bit troubled that the plea bargain announcement is now a 
feature. This also contributes to some of the misunderstanding in the 
community about the difference between our users -- people like Brian 
who actually do the writing and retain ownership and responsiobility for 
it -- and the IMC itself -- where decisions on what should be featured 
are subject to some sort of group vetting process, even though we assume 
that the creators of content can also involved in this decisionmaking 
process.

This is a potential problem, if we somehow let it appear that there is 
no distinction between the two aspects of using Indymedia, because our 
editing needs to use this small bit of discretion due to the status of 
UC IMC as a non-profit. We are here to serve underserved parts of the 
community, but we also must not give the appearance of simply being an 
extension of any group's political project, no matter how good or 
compatible it might be with the wide range of political interests 
represented in the underserved communities that UC IMC exists to support 
through our making available to them easy media access.

I would suggest that the announcement of the upcoming plea bargain 
should be de-featured, under the presumption that we will actually have 
new content upcoming shortly on this story that will clearly be eligible 
to be a feature.

There are many more policies and understandings that are part of web 
editing legacy that may be unfamiliar to new editors. I'd be glad to 
have a meeting to discuss and/or clarify any of this. Our editorial 
policy page is buried on the old website, but it was agreed several 
years ago it needed a rewire to reflect actual practice as it has 
evolved through various Steering group decisions and into the present 
form of leaving much of the actual decisionmaking to the Web group, in 
order to incporate current policy. This has been working well with the 
fairly stable and small group of editors we've been operating with, but 
is also somewhat less than optimal from being transparent to anyone new 
being involved as well as to website users.
Mike Lehman