Constructive Criticism Thread

[cleocat2001]

Thanks Celeste and Amy. I was ready to give up but I think I will start a new article from scratch and take my time to research and write it.
You two were very inspiring, thanks again.

Annette

[Celeste Stewart]

Maybe "Greek Theatre for Dummies"? Could be fun

[cleocat2001]

I can try that.

[cashwriter]

Maybe "Greek Theatre for Dummies"? Could be fun

Is "for Dummies" trademarked? That would be my only concern.

[cleocat2001]

Celeste, I need your help. I submitted an article Theatre and Film in South Africa for a request. The rejection was because of formatting issues. I read the formatting section again and I can't understand what was wrong. The font is Times New Roman 12. I saved it as a doc. file from the start. The spacing between paragraphs is single. There are no bold or italic words. I don't know what else could be wrong. It is 2 pages long so all I can think is maybe the spacing there could be a problem with submitting but I don't really think that can happen. I don't know if you can access the article to see what happened. I'm really at wits end. I don't know if it will help to e-mail it you because you won't be able to pick up the formatting problem in a copy and paste.

I haven't even submitted the other one that you checked but this request is so perfect for my field and I have lots of info on Africa and I really believe I can write sensible hands-on info about it.

[Celeste Stewart]

Hi,
I can't access the pages because I'm not an official CC editor so maybe Ed can shed some light on the formatting problem. You said the space between paragaphs is single? Do you have an extra space between each paragraph? Sometimes when copying and pasting into the long summary, the blank lines between the paragraphs disappear because of the way Word formats its paragraphs. After submitting, go back into "Edit" to see if the text appears as one big chunk or if there are spaces between the paragraphs. That's my hunch but again, Ed would know better than I.

[Ed]

The problem is that the article is still displaying in Microsoft's new default font, which is not one of our accepted fonts. The solution to this problem is to "save as" an rtf file. This doesn't appear to happen with every article, and I'm still trying to figure out why it happens at all.

Thanks,
Ed

[cleocat2001]

Hi

Thanks. I will try that. Hope it works.

[AnneM]

Hi everyone,

I am new here and suddenly feel very overwhelmed. I just submitted an article today and, after reading the forum, am afraid that my writing is terrible and only fit for use as toilet paper. Of course, the latter may present a problem since it's not even printed, but you see my point.

I was wondering if it would be acceptable for me to post a paragraph from my article to get opinions. Would this be alright?

Anne

[Celeste Stewart]

Sure, post a paragraph that you feel is particularly weak and we'll see what we can do to help. By the way, if you think the article is not quite ready, you can delete it from the site until you have it polished to perfection.

[AnneM]

Thanks so much for that... Reading it for the millionth time I think I should just chuck the whole article out ... But here is a paragraph that may read funny...

The internet has given the business world the chance to truly become global. Before the advent of information technology, reaching customers in other areas than your own was a highly cost-intensive exercise, requiring extensive financing and logistics to be able to open a store or office in another city or country. This system of expansion still cannot reach the number of customers that a website can. Even the largest businesses, with points of sale all over the world, do not have access to the number of potential customers that a website can deliver.

[Celeste Stewart]

It's not horrendous

I rearranged a few things. "in other areas than your own" seemed a little awkward and the use of "that a website can" twice in a row was redundant so I changed those phrases.

The internet allows businesses to expand their reach around the globe for a fraction of the cost of opening international stores and branch offices. Before the advent of information technology, reaching customers in other cities or countries required extensive financing and logistics. The brick-and-mortar expansion system cannot reach the number of customers that a website can reach. Even the largest businesses, with points of sale all over the world, have limited access to customers while a website can attract a global audience.

Also, I wonder if "Before the advent of information technology" should be changed to "Before the Internet." Technically, information technology, frame relay, and other computerized systems were available before the Internet but they were expensive.

[AnneM]

Thank you so much for that....

Great ideas and maybe I should throw the whole article away ....

I deleted it from the submission que anyway because I think that the idea still has merit so I don't want to ruin my chances.

[zwag]

What Christmas Means to Me
Baby Jesus is what Christmas is all about. Unlike most people say, although there’s nothing wrong with it, “Jesus is the reason for the season,” it’s more accurate to say, “We are the reason for the season, but Jesus is the season!” There is even a Christmas song that talks about us being the reason that He gave His life.

[zwag]

Sorry about sumiting more than one sentence or line. Is that why my submission isn't showing up? I just submitted what I thought was the introduction to my piece?