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less. But they
were
trimmed, by editorial cliques, and rewritten
for clarity and style. Some entries were rejected as being too thin,
while others were sent back to the author for extensive rewrites.
This traditional separation of editor and writer mirrors the
creative process itself, in which authors are exhorted to concen-
trate on
either
composing
or
revising, but not both at the same
time, for the application of the critical mind to the creative pro-
cess strangles it. So you write, and then you edit. Even when you
write for your own consumption, it seems you have to answer to
an editor.
The early experimental days of the Internet saw much experi-
mentation with alternatives to traditional editor/author divi-
sions. Slashdot, a nerdy news-site of surpassing popularity [fn:
Having a link to one’s website posted to Slashdot will almost in-
evitably overwhelm your server with traffic, knocking all but the
best-provisioned hosts offline within minutes; this is commonly
referred to as “the Slashdot Effect.”], has a baroque system for
“community moderation” of the responses to the articles that
are posted to its front pages. Readers, chosen at random, are
given five “moderator points” that they can use to raise or lower
the score of posts on the Slashdot message-boards. Subsequent
readers can filter their views of these boards to show only highly
ranked posts. Other readers are randomly presented with posts
and their rankings and are asked to rate the fairness of each mod-
erator’s moderation. Moderators who moderate fairly are given
more opportunities to moderate; likewise message-board posters
whose messages are consistently highly rated.
It is thought that this system rewards good “citizenship” on
the Slashdot boards through checks and balances that reward
good messages and fair editorial practices. And in the main, the
Slashdot moderation system works [fn: as do variants on it, like
the system in place at Kur5hin.org (pronounced “corrosion”)]. If
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