This seems to be the summer of our discontent here on Open Salon. There is a groundswell of opposition to the selection process used by the Editors in designating the Editor's Picks and the cover spots. Many people believe that there is no selection process at all, and that there is a magic circle of writers who are automatically given this elevated status, no matter what they write.
I have participated in some of these discussions. I have questioned some EP and cover choices. There have been days that I have wondered out loud, "Who do you have to schtup around here to get an EP?" I have seen some incredible, gut-wrenching writing sink with barely a ripple to the bottom of the great pond that is OS. I think it might be a good idea for more of us to follow Cartouche's lead, and if we see something that really moves us, write a short blog directing others to that piece. This is a community after all, and we really should support each other more.
I see that Mishima666 has done just such a good deed today.
Lately, I have seen lots of comments that completely "diss" (for lack of a better word) the cover and the EP.
"Oh, I never look at the cover."
"The cover is a bunch of crap."
"The cover is nothing but TV shows and YouTube videos."
Of course, each of us can read OS in the way that we want. If you want to come here and use the "Most Recent" tab to go through all of the recent postings or only those of your favorites, more power to you. If you want to use the feed on the left-hand side of the page to see what's being rated and read, that's certainly a great technique.
But to shun the cover because it is somehow "beneath" you seems to be a bit elitist. As Kathy Riordan said in the comments section of a recent post about editor bias (in which I made some of my own snarky, hurtful comments),
"The important thing to remember is that there are human beings behind all these posts, and everyone here is writing to the best of their ability, that which is important uniquely to them. We can all choose whether or not to support each other in that process."
I was moved by those words, and I am trying to take them to heart.
My very first post here, which included a (gasp!) YouTube video was actually about a subject that was uniquely important to me. And it made the cover. I can only imagine now the rolling of eyes that must have occurred with the addition of this lowly post to the cover of Open Salon.
There are many people here who have never made the cover, and I can't figure out why. I wish I could put them there. But I can't. I don't have that power.
But I don't think the answer is to ignore the cover and to write posts about how inane it is. (Well, you can do the former, but please try to avoid the latter. What's the point?)
After all, your "friends and neighbors" have appeared on that cover. People like Stellaa and Silkstone and Mary T. Kelly and Lea Lane and Buffy W and JustJuli and Bob Eckstein and dharmabummer and Sandra Stephens and Skip Williamson and Jodi Kasten and Floyd Elliott and John Blumenthal and suzlipman and Sally Swift and bbd and Tom Pantera and Beth Mann and Will Someone Feed the Cat? and Lisa Kern and MJwycha and Steve Blevins and Asperger Mom and Juliet Waters and, well, you get the picture.
Put down the cover and you put down all those fine people and more.
I just think there's a better way to voice our concerns and try to change this place. I am going to try to be better about it myself.
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Comments
Nice post...anf thank you.
I confess that when people diss anything written about TV, I feel a bit embarassed, since I'm blogging about Mad Men. I don't think what I'm doing is "inane" (nor do I think one could remotely apply that term to the show itself, as anyone who has watched it would I think agree). I think it's almost always a mistake to tar things with a broad brush. Any topic can be written about profoundly or inanely -- it's all about the skill of the writer. I've seen great work here on subjects that you could have thought were trivial, but they weren' t in the hands of that particular writer.
I also don't think any art form is either elevated or debased -- it's all up to the artist. "Maus" by Art Spiegelman is an example of how a form as derided as the comic book can be used to tell one of the most tragic stories in human history -- the Holocaust -- in a new and profound way. And forms that are held to be elevated -- such as poetry or the novel -- have certainly been ill-used by many terrible writers! It's all in the content and even more, the delivery. Good writers can make any form sing.
And I think the editors do get over-criticized for the cover. There's stuff on there I question but I also have been directed to many wonderful pieces of writing that I would have otherwise missed because they featured it on the cover. I also use the Activity Feed to see what the members of OS are liking and reading. They aren't contradictory but complementary. I can pick and choose what I read - no one controls that for me.
I do love that people bring attention to under-recognized writers. I wish we had a central place for doing that. I wonder if it would be possible to set up a communal blog here, that any of us can access, either in posts or maybe just in Comments, that is "OS Members Recommend" where we can put suggestions of writers or particular posts people might want to read? Then we'd have a central point to all go to to find recommendations vs. having to look for them in everyone's blogs.
But still, tarring things with a broad brush is just unfair and hurtful. I can understand why you would feel embarrassed. I know that I would too. (Not to put any pressure on you, but if you keep up for the rest of the season what you've done so far, I think that your series of posts should be packaged with the Season 3 DVDs when they're released.)
Someone set up a blog called Undercover Cover and we should rotate filling it in once a week.
Because I totally agree that the editors keep screwing it up. Unless they put me on it, in which case they're brilliant.
The Editors job is to bring traffic and keep the site moving. I may have concerns about keeping the site refreshed. I find that people want sites refreshed, so covers that stay static for 2 days, I think may be counterproductive. Also the feed issue I think makes the site feel frozen in time and not very interesting. So, the issue is viral vs. topical.
As long as they work on their part, I will work on mine, blogging and commenting. Looking for new voices and encouraging new voices. I consider it my job to keep traffic coming on my blog as it would be anywhere else.
I like the mix of you tube, entertainment, politics, food, poetry etc. I am not into "mono blogs".
Jeannette, thanks for the mention.
I know it's an undertaking, but in the past people have done compendiums of good posts of the week or the month... perhaps if we all took turns once a week and made a list of gems to share...
I have no idea, but for some reason, I've just been passing it by. That could mean I'm an idiot (I can accept that) or that there's something not jibing on the cover. I have no idea which one. It might be that a lot of the "news" on the cover is older, and so, I don't feel the need to go there.
I do love the comic Saturdays!
That was too narcissistic, wasn't it? I knew it was too narcissistic.
That's OK because about half the slots on the cover go to a mix of writers based upon their work of that particular day and those are posts which usually really interest me.
I tend to scan the cover and focus on looking at the feed, going through the most recent, and looking at my favorites and PMs to find the posts I most wish to read. And, I've gotten to the point where I won't read certain writers who seem to make the cover with 100% of their postings.
Endlessly dissing the cover just leaves you with a whole lot of diss, and none of dat. The Marines have a saying that goes, "wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up first." The point is, you have to eventually do more than just wish.
The funny thing is...I'm blogging about one of only 2 TV shows that I ever watch! I stopped watching almost all TV (including all network TV) some years ago. So if people slot me in some way as a tele-idiot, well, it's kind of ironic actually. I'm writing about a show that to me is not only better than most TV but almost any movie you can find out there, especially Hollywood product. That's why I think categorizing and stereotyping people or posts or topics is so tricky. Nothing is all everything. (Or as Bruce sings, "Everything is everything.")
I still like the idea of finding a communal spot for us all to suggest posts that we think people should check out. I do think that a lot of the best posts and writers don't get attention here, and anything we can do to remedy that is a good thing for all of us.
I do believe that there are dozens of people here who routinely get featured on the cover who justly deserve it. The majority of people who write here appreciate positive feedback. We're human. We like to be told that what we write is worth reading.
That said, I personally feel like the things I put a lot of soul, thought and time into writing are put down by people saying that "nothing on the cover is worth reading." I feel like I should never say anything about covers or EPs because I am fortunate enough to get a lot of them.
I'm not posting junk. This is my work. I am a legitimate writer trying to start a career after so many years of being "just a mom." I realize that aim isn't the same as everyone else's, but I'm putting a lot of effort into my own success.
My job as a writer is to be sure that if someone clicks through something featured by the editors, they are rewarded with quality work. My job as a citizen of OS is to try to bring as many folks along with me that are doing quality work as well as I can by using reddit, digg and my favorites column.
(thumbified for positivity)
IMO, the 'cover' is supposed to point you to all of the most delicious stuff you'll find inside. Who ignores the cover of Time or People or even TV Guide? No one. So, frankly, (again, IMO) if you have ANY portion of your readership ignoring your cover, your cover has failed to do its job.
"I'm not posting junk. This is my work. I am a legitimate writer trying to start a career after so many years of being "just a mom." I realize that aim isn't the same as everyone else's, but I'm putting a lot of effort into my own success."
Other than that I'm not a mom, I could have written the same thing.
I also take writing very seriously, put a lot of work into my posts even on topics others might consider superficial, and consider that effort important to me in many ways. It's up to others if they choose to read me or not after that -- I have done my part. I also have no control over what the editors do (and believe me, I have tried to influence them telepathically).
It particularly pains me that excellent writers like yourself, people that I can tell work hard on what they write, are getting dissed in this way, including by being grouped with those who throw up a Youtube video with only an "Isn't this funny?" text to go with it.
On the other hand, I read that story first, and went back to the front page afterwards, to read the article on Iran's nuclear plant.
So maybe periodical editors have it right; putting a little of this and a little of that on every front page.
I've always found an EP a very pleasant surprise. Yeah, there are times when I've wondered why one post I wrote got on there and another one didn't, but I sure as hell don't lose any sleep over it. I've had such a positive experience here, and gotten so many positive comments from people I've really come to respect (present company included), that an EP is a bonus to me, albeit a flattering one.
Part of the thing with me is that I'm used to having other people make decisions about what kind of play my writing gets. I've had editors whose criteria totally mystified me sometimes, but I learned a long time ago that I'm not necessarily the best judge of my own writing.
And since the process of picking an EP is a big, honkin's mystery to me -- I don't know, for example, if there's a particular editor that just happens to like my style or if there are several that respond to the way I write -- I'd hardly be in a position to bitch, even if I were unhappy, which I'm not.
I think anybody who bitches about the EPs is letting their ego get in the way of the intent of OS. Those of us who have been lucky enough to write for a living know that the downside of that is that you'd better develop a pretty good carapace on your self-image.
Of course, in my case, being a total egomaniac has taken care of that problem.
Thanks for the mention, J. Greatly appreciated.
Two…fuck the cover.
Three…life ain’t fair.
Way, way, way too much time spent discussing the cover!
Yeah, I'm a nitpicking smartass. :) Actually, i'm just bitter because I haven't been an Editor's Pick or "on the cover" in a while.
Did I have an Editor who loved me and now he/she is no longer there? I guess I'll never know.
First, thanks for the shout out. I really appreciate it. To be, honest, it has occurred to me more that once that most people must think my writing is lame because it appears on the ostensibly lame cover too much. So it does mean a lot to me that I made your list.
Second, I don't think the fact that OS regular writers don't read the cover regularly means it's bad. The cover is for the general reader, I think. And for the general blogger, or beginning blogger. Most bloggers have very specific interests and tend to scan the news for stuff relating to that. They don't need covers, they know who and what they're blogging for.
But here's the thing that doesn't get mentioned enough. Although blogs are sometimes great writing. They're not really supposed to be. Blogs are written conversation. Like most conversation its topical, light, angry, and usually relevant to what's happening today.
Of course great writing appears on OS and on the cover sometimes. But I find it strange that people get so frustrated that the cover is not entirely composed of great writing. The kind of great writing that professionals get paid for because they work hard at it, daily. Not on the weekend, not when they're feeling inspired, but daily.
If people are disappointed in the quality of the OS cover, I suggest they find a couple of bucks and buy a magazine where writers are also sweating over their work, and becoming anxious about whether these magazines will still exist a year from now.
I'm sorry that people are not getting high quality writing delivered to them twice a day for free. But not that sorry, because when that becomes possible, then writing as a profession is really over.
What's on the cover of OS is, and should remain mostly good, topical, spontaneous written conversation. Conversation about our lives, the stuff we think about, the stuff we watch. Like most conversation, most of it is forgetable, but it meant something in that moment.
I'm sorry if people are busting their asses on great writing that never appears on the cover. But I'm sure when people look back over a few months of their best efforts, they'll find that they actually grew and learned something, whether or not they made it on the cover. And if they're proud of their work, and they keep working on it, they'll find a place where people are equally proud to feature it.
If those places still exist.