What is the size of B'Elana's feet?
After Skankyrich announced that I'd be the Acting Editor for the next three issues I had lots of encouraging feedback in my journal, and elsewhere there was no lack of suggestions as to what to write about in my first editorial. However, when Elentari suggested that there were 'Big shoes to fill' some people started wondering about the size of my feet. I didn't tell then, and I'm not going to do so now. Let me just say that my feet have grown a little each year that I've spent on h2g2, and that I will do my best to live up to the expectations of my friends and the trust Rich put in me. I feel very honoured, after all, getting to write the Editorial for the Post is something very special.
I hadn't even been part of the team for very long (five months) when Rich first suggested that I should be the proxy during summer while he was away on his camps. Yet the idea didn't scare me for a minute. First of all, there is the team. I knew I'd not be alone, and I wasn't. The support and work they put in was fantastic. Second, there's the support of my friends. Just have a look at any one of my journals, and you'll see what I mean. A week ago, I celebrated my fifth 'hootooversary', and we agreed that writing and submitting my first Guide Entry a good 2.5 years after joining the site was a milestone. It took me another year to start writing for the Post, and the Post is where I have found my niche in the h2g2 community. When I was invited to join the Post Team last year in September, I jumped in, head first. The instructions we got (lil joined at the same time as me) were very clear, and Rich was always there for any question I had, making sure I didn't create havoc in my practice of 'jumping the gun' at first - a habit of mine that still keeps him busy. I learned a lot over the months, and Rich's enthusiasm, patience and Editor skills are definitely something to aspire to.
Patience is a virtue even the most angelic among us can lose at some point. I'm currently short of losing it with my son (he's nearly 20), who is at war with his dad; blocking any suggestion and risking to ruin his future life. The situation is so bad that my son doesn't even listen to me, just to spite his dad. So, as they don't communicate with each other, they take their frustrations out on me. I'm caught between a rock and a hard place, so to speak, and it's me who gets all the flak. This has built up over months; gradually going from bad to worse, and if it hadn't been for hootoo in general and the Post in specific, I'd probably have reached the end of my fuse by now.
Unlike housework, which is undone oh-so-quickly after it was done, editing articles and/or writing for the Post is very rewarding. The results remain to be seen for years, unchanged, which a browse through the Post archives will prove. No messing-up once an article is published, although some slight corrections will be done should they prove necessary. Maybe this is something which attracts our writers and readers? There's a very good mix of all sorts of submissions in every issue to appeal to a variety of readers, and the fact that there was a huge amount of feedback on last issue's articles seems to prove that we're on the right path. However, some feedback from a friend wasn't so positive: he complained about h2g2 being so UK-centric, feeling it excludes all the rest of the world. He said that the Post was no exception in this respect. I hastened to assure him that especially we at the Post Office would embrace people from everywhere, and that any occurring mention of 'here' and 'there' does not exclude anybody who doesn't happen to be in any Post editor's 'physical' here. I myself have never felt excluded or unwelcome, although I don't live in the UK but in the part of the world the Brits frequently refer to as 'Europe' (which is funny, because for me, the UK is part of Europe, despite their denial of this fact).
On to other important matters: a German proverb says: Wer rastet, der rostet (a rolling stone gathers no moss) and so I ask you all: help us to keep the Post something to look forward to every two weeks! Submit an article (like our new poet Shagbark did), post your feedback or just spread the word! Please note that the deadline for the next issue will again be a day early, it's on Saturday, 28th June, midnight BST.
Enjoy the current issue of the Post!
B'Elana
