Constant Content

Can someone link me the CC rule for dates within an article? I don't know where to find it offhand.

Dates go along with style conventions for your particular brand of English language usage. In the United States, you'd probably write Monday, March 28, 2011. For UK English, I think you dyslexia it to Monday, 28 March 2011. But I'm not a UK English speaker, so correct me if I'm wrong.

Stick with your style and you'll be OK.

Yeah, see, here's the problem - I've had an article sent back a second time for review because the date wasn't in the format CC wanted. As in, I wrote it like so - On the 30th of November, 2007 - and they said it should be changed to 'On Nov. 30, 2007'.

I thought abbreviations would be strictly verboten, no? And they never mentioned this when it was sent back the first time. So now I'm kinda wary of making the change, sending it back, and getting a third rejection because a different editor sees it and doesn't like it. That would be my three strikes, and no more selling through CC for me.

I hear ya. That doesn't seem quite right to me, either, but then 30th of November is mixing it up too.

Celeste is always quoting the Yahoo Style Guide, so here's what they have to say about date formatting:

Americans order dates with the month first, so we would style your example exactly as you did: January 1, 2010. I notice that several newspapers in your country follow that order as well. Of course, many nations prefer the day first (1 January 2010), and that's fine, too; just be consistent and clear.

One other point: If your date includes month, day, and year and falls in the middle of the sentence, you need a comma after both day and year: "We launched the style guide site on June 27, 2010, and will add new content to the Ask an Editor section as we receive questions." However, if you're omitting the day, no comma is needed after the year: "The band's tour begins in July 2010 and will continue until the drummer spontaneously combusts."

OK, so if that's the only reason the article was sent back the second time, format the date correctly (November 30, 2007) and make a note in the short summary that you were following the Yahoo Style Guide. Delete this note once the article is approved so customers don't see it.

I understand your trepidation about the three-strikes rule--a note to the editors should avoid serious punishment because you're trying to do things right. Read the article super-carefully before submitting a third time. Maybe let it sit for a week if it's not for a public request.

Good luck! Fingers crossed that it'll all work out for you!

Thanks for the advice. This is for a public request, so I can't wait.

I think I've read this thing fifty times already. I've analysed it to death and then some, and I'm still half-sure they'll find another thing wrong with it. Is it normal to get so stressed out over one article?!

I'm going to go over it again and then send it.

It got accepted. I can rest easy for a while

Yay! I know how it goes--you get caught up in a tiny detail and suddenly everything just seems all wrong. It's for sale now, so just wait for the money to come in.