========================================================== From: IN%"TANG@Kitten.Chem.uh.edu" "Tang, Huang (UH-Chem)" 4-MAY-1994 15:26:51.99 To: IN%"ccf-editor@ifcss.org" CC: Subj: My experience... Hi, Yungui and others, Thanks for your compliments. Now come to my past experience, I have little to share, because I learn these operations from you guys, esp. when I was EM. I'll write down whatever my stream of consciousness flow onto the screen :-) In my month long editing experience, I think one important thing is to try to inform the contributor for any changes you made in his/her article. That will make a good communication between editor and reader/writer, even for someone you don't like. I have received some mails which any editor will love to read (I forwarded some to you guys but not all). I had a bad habit for not Cc-ing my replies to authors back to you guys (I changed lately). Sometimes it's better not to send a standardized message. Send a personal acceptance message will be better IMO, though you can have standard one and changes here and there to different persons. This COMES after you are sure that the article will come out. (I remembered one time I sent a letter to CCF; after soemtimes I saw it on CCF but nobody informed me. If I saw it that way, I would have said it differently. I don't mean to be personal to any fella editors. Just an illustration). This is important because I guess everybody has a second thought on what he/she wrote. Thus give a chance for them to revise, as Mi Mi Sr. said, even you are very satisfied with them. Second thing is: always double check whatever you wrote. I have also another bad habbit: I'm very impatient to check my own writing, even though I check other people's carefully. I'll never forget what I felt after reading thecriticism about "evoke/revoke" Had I double-checked it, I wouldn't have chance to feel embarrased about it. That's a loud slap in my face. I also learnt that as an editor, try to be low profile in treating some controversial issues. What I mean is not to get involved personally. I didn't learn it after I made some mistakes (I wish I hadn't written that piece to IFCSS' networks; it doesn't help in anything). Always put the mails/messages you want to use in store for next issues. Try to put out the edition as early as possible. Whenever I sent out 1th draft on Won. or so, I always got low output for picks :-) >From my own experience, I like our fellow editors to be picky. The picks should not only in wording, but also on the overall design/ideas. Maybe because we are Chinese, and we know too well how not to pick on someone too much, I feel sometimes our editors bypass some not-so-good stuff even we knew it. Soemtimes when I'm inert to do further changes, I like someone to tell me "Hey, this ain't right! You better change this to bla bla bla..." That is, candid pin-pointing works better for me. That's why I from time to time call for participations/ideas/pick. The harder picking is good for CCF. Whenever something wrong to CCF, readers don't just see EE or EM, rather take EBCCF or CCF as a whole. They never say: "That editor is lowsy", but rather "CCF is a lowsy magazine". Hopefully this thing won't happen :-) Again, I reiterate my proposal for setting two accounts fro CCF: one is ccf-editor for contribution; the other is ccf-internal for the board. Is it difficult to implement? We have similar thing for cnd, China-net, etc. We can borrow from. Have I said all negative things (I don't wanna check :-) If we avoid mistakes, we make progress :-) This stream is getting way too long :-) Happy editing... Tang, Huang =========================================================================== Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 18:28:54 -0600 From: tu@selway.umt.edu (Baixiong Tu) ==> XU Yingyin temp. address To: ccf-editor@ifcss.org Hello, My friends and colleagues, How are you all and how is CCF doing? I recall ending my term as EE quite "promotly", and abruptly too, at the end of May. Hope it hasn't caused any inconvenience for the succeeding EE and Assistant EE -- Cheng Ming, have you been promoted to EE yet? I still remember the long list of errors you picked up from the CCF drafts which really put my negligence to shame. And that certainly speaks strongly for your dedication and your potential as an editor. Can anyone tell me what is new in CCF? I am dying for news in and out of CCF; out here in Montana, I feel my existence is so wretchedly insulated even if I dutifully watch TV everyday. After all a pastoral life lacks the diversity and excitement of a cosmopolitan. It just occurred to me that if we have CCF we can live far away from a geographical cosmopolitan. This may sound laughable to those uninformed, but to me it has a ring of truth. I have long wanted to say that the short period I worked as an EE was extremely fruitful and rewarding. With my eyes glued to the screen for five to six consecutive hours every afternoon, with my consciousness oblivious to the rumbling and grumbling noise of the powerful AC in the computer lab, with my concentration enhanced by the space absolutely vacant except for my own presence, I felt my mind and my intellect reached their (though I am not sure if I can treat them as two separate entities) maximum productivity. As an EE, the least I have to do is to grind out a slick passage of FTE that has the appearance of effortlessness. Yet somehow it is the most anxiety-inducing part of the job, though invariably ideas, distinct, fully articulated, would emerge out of the nebulous cloud or muddle that has been forming at the back of my mind even while it is oppressive and obstrusive. However, the EE term is not a one-man show; one has to work in a supportive, friendly, nourishing environment that is conducive and constructive to the intellect. Correspondence with and feedback from other temporarily off-duty editors have provided me such an environment, for which I am VERY grateful. At no other time in my life have I experienced so acutely the unadulterated team-work spirit. For one thing, it draws out the best performative instinct or potential in an individual; it forces one to go public, and subsequently to "show off", or to excell. Let this be a reflection that barely "wraps up" my term. Sorry it is such a belated one. Changqing, I owe you this, and many more. I will not discuss the technical details of actually editing each weekly issue, for here my words will carry the least weight, and I have been heavily indebted to Changqing and Yaxin all along. Weihe, could you please add my temporary e-mail address to the EBCCF? It is "tu@selway.umt.edu". This is a friend's account, but he never uses it, so it is confidential enough. I would like to sign on now. Thanks. I am happy to see you all again. Yingyin 6/16/94 from Missoula, MT =========================================================================