h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dante may have written De Vulgari Eloquentia in Latin, but he wrote La Divina Commedia in dialect. Just an interesting aside!

Yeah, I know. In the original artilcle I listed language (Latin v. Vernacular) and style (Poetry v. Prose) for every work, but the editors thought it was unnessecary.

A lot of things get edited out. Too bad. I think it would've been good in the article.

I agree.

I think the editors want stuff that's easy reading, but not too detailed, so that people will sound smart at parties and such. Unfortunately, we loose info through that.

You're right. Sometimes they swithch things around and paraphraze things when they really aren't nessecary, but basicly they do a pretty good job. I talked to the editor about something he was changing that could have been confusing, and he was real nice about it, didn't pull the old "I don't tell you how to do your job" routine or anything. But I'm perplexed as to why the picture is Botticelli's Venus. I guess cause it was more recognizable than Dante's face, and it was just a symbol of medieval masterpiece. At any rate, I was thrilled to see that it got one.

The editors are usually pretty good, but if they post an article with an error in it, it can take for ever to fix.

Reason being that if a subbie makes a mistake that isn't noticed by the editorial team, then the paid editorial staff have to be notified, 'cos the subbie can't do anything about it.

The reason that all the stylistic comments and so on were edited out, I would think, is that they could be considered too technical for someone who doesn't know about literature too much. I wouldn't be able to say for certain, not being the subbie wot did it.

Necr

yup. Hopefully the system will gradually improve.

It certainly allows for more editorial scope. More people seeing it and commenting on it and that sort of thing.

And I don't think you will find many sub-editors who will 'pull rank' on researchers. Unless they did their PhD thesis on the subject. I never would. But then my batches have all been things like historical subjects and scientific stuff that I know nothing about. I have to get physicists in to verify the facts. Luckily, being still in sixth form, I can usually find somone who knows about whatever I'm editing.

Necr