The Observation Deck

Why couldn't posts from the Deck here, be used for the printed version of the LO?

Mark Allan Crnolatas

I would hope that if that is even a consideration that the orginal authors would have to agree first.

I often write posts stream-of-consciousness style and rarely re-edit them. This is partly due to the limited amount of time that I have and partly because a more formal post can sometimes come across as more aggressive than one that is written more colloquially.

The article I did write for the paper I took the extra time to proof read, edit, and polish to ensure better readability and a more professional tone that I felt would be appropriate for the paper. This is how I would treat anything that I would want printed.

One thing to remember is that on the forum, if I really messed up a post with pathetic grammar or spelling, I can fix it. If I didnt explain myself well and was misunderstood, I can respond again and explain, restate, etc.

The paper does not allow an author to do either - so another danger would be that posts that might be pulled may be taken out of context and actually misrepresent the author.

JMO
Charyn

For the record, there have been posts that turned into articles through a cooperative process (asking the author to change the piece from post to article and to submit the article through the Member Center).

oo.... what about a 'recommend this post' button so that we can let someone know we'd love to see them turn their post into an article...

Great...

More free work for me...

I think most people on the Deck can either receive email or be PM'd. If you see something you think should be expanded (or contracted) for an article, drop the person a line or write that as a response.

... ok ...

... sorry ...

... was just a fun happy random thought about recognizing someone that posts here but might be reluctant to post in the paper ...

... will refrain from the fun happy thoughts in the future ...

Sorry, I don't want to discourage happy thoughts!

I'm pretty sure there are "Rate This Post" mods and we can look at that in the next iteration.

I just think it feels better when somebody actually writes something like "great post!" That seems more personal.

When you have a "rate this post" feature, anyone, including the author, can give their post high marks. When readers actually take the time to PM or write a reply about a post, it's real.

JMO

ahhh - didnt know that...

Thanks DL, for the explanation. Makes mucho more sense now