From the outside looking in

Poynter has a column by Matt Thompson about Web sites for editors -- namely, the ACES and Testy Copy Editors message boards and blogs such as this one and those run by Tom Mangan and Clay McCuistion.

Most of you will be familiar with the sites mentioned, if not through your own curiosity, then through the links on the side of this page. But it's interesting to see how non-editors* view our rants -- on the big issues and the "quibbling over semantics." This article is complimentary if not always in agreement (see "impact").

Even if you are familiar with the topics mentioned, you should still check the article out for the last couple of grafs. The author gives a Testy Copy Editors warning: No object is above the snark, especially not Poynter itself. Thompson is a good sport.

And this prompts me to repeat a reminder: What you write on these message boards is very public and can be repeated indefinitely. It doesn't appear that Thomspon interviewed anyone for this piece; he simply used people's postings. What have you posted lately?

Make sure your posts don't say something unwarranted or ill-advised about you.

*Why did I hyphenate a non- word? Call it civil disobendience. Although AP calls for us to drop the hyphen, I find that this can often lead to clunky or misleading words. With noneditor, it's easy to add the E to the non part, rendering it none. In most cases, I drop the hyphen. But not all.