Dear Open Salon Community,
Greetings and salutations! By way of introduction, my name is Jake Sugarman, and I’m the (brand spanking) new editor of Open Salon. It’s a pleasure to meet you all, albeit electronically. As a bit of background, my writing has appeared in Salon, Tablet, Westchester Magazine and the New York Times online. I’m also a former English major and J-School alumnus with a yen for non-fiction—narrative journalism, essays, journalistic essays, you name it. In short, all of the kinds of pieces you publish regularly on your respective blogs.
My vision for Open Salon is largely the same as the one you’ve come to know and love, with one meaningful tweak. While you’re still invited to write about whatever subjects get your creative juices flowing, I’d also like to encourage you to tackle stories that are timely or even prescient. Earlier today, for instance, the Supreme Court rejected most of Arizona’s immigration law but upheld that state police may check the immigration status of those that they detain. Meanwhile, debate over health care continues to rage on the eve of Thursday’s make-or-break decision. Directly or indirectly, chances are that one of these issues affects you personally. And whether you have a long-form essay or a snap reaction post to contribute, we want you to be a part of the discussion.
Open calls are obviously nothing new around these parts, but my hope is to produce them more regularly—to get you thinking about topics that are meaningful to a wide readership and, perhaps more importantly, to get you Published (capital “p”). As a onetime freelancer, believe me, I know how hard it can be to build a readership. That’s why I’ll be posting my editor’s picks throughout the day to Facebook and Twitter (@OpenSalonPicks), both of which I urge you to follow.
I recognize how rare it is to work with a thoughtful and talented community of reader/writers, and I’m thrilled to be editing Open Salon. I look forward to corresponding with each of you.
Sincerely,
Jake Sugarman
Open Salon Editor
Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
Comments
Any relation to khgkhgkk khggkgk or dewgttt wetqdgss?
But seriously, welcome to OS.
Then ~ I can't resist.
You have`Open door.
Well. Hi. Good Luck.
I sens Sugar Cream?
`
It's goat cream
&
coconut oil balm
`
wish you`integrity.
We wish Ya`luck.
Lucky got`Luck.
`
Denise Levertov
`
Later. No be duck?
Duck quack bah bah.
You got a hard task.
"Open calls are obviously nothing new around these parts, but my hope is to produce them more regularly—to get you thinking about topics that are meaningful to a wide readership and, perhaps more importantly, to get you Published (capital “p”)."
Not to get off on the wrong foot here, but this really just sounds like a way to steer and 'groom' our posts in a manner that would provide free content for Salon.com
or maybe I am just a suspicious type...
either way. welcome & good luck!
Welcome to the asylum.
One more thing. Is the 4 hour feed gone for good?
BTW, I share Loriane's suspicions about being steered to generate topical contact for Salon, especially in light of recent business news about Salon Media. Some of my favorite OS writers are more interested in literary subjects or the arts or every variety of evergreen debate. I'd appreciate hearing about your preferences for topics that aren't so topical or trendy. Thanks....
A toast:
May your enthusiasm remain ever flowing,
may your appreciation of a variety of essay be evermore as well as profitable,
may you be a genius at spam assassination, technical issues and Art James' poetry-slash-prose.
May you enjoy each day while you work,
and may you never feel work is just toil ~
Cheers!
(Egads, I'm channeling me old Uncle Aengus)
You obvisously haven't been around these parts before!!
But - good luck to you
(& what lorianne said)
&, of course, welcome.
May I suggest that you check out the Reader's Picks, there are some great posts in their selections and considerable overlap with your preferred criteria for EP's. Another suggestion is to communicate with the community as often as you can, particularly about any critical mass changes in OS. Lately a lot of us have been feeling a lot like mushrooms... kept in the dark and in the absence of real info we've been feeding on our own BS.
Oh, hi Art : )
Yeah, too much of "timely" what every other site publishes can be so dull and make the cover page a graveyard, as far as rates, comments, or views.
Oh, I see you're from Brook-lyn?
Do you know my niece, Tes-sa?
She's such a nice girl....
(Egads, I'm channeling my Old Aunt Edith)
Someone asked about Emily: She's to devote herself to working on a novel -- wish her luck, though I doubt she'll need it. And it's taken quite a while to find the right person to leap into her role. Jake's great, a real enthusiast for Open, good writing, passionate thinking.
I'm very excited to set him loose here. Be nice!
Welcome!
We quite often do not read the stories on page one, that we have no idea who picks. We also have no idea of the editorial policy you (will) use to select page one. I assume that is what you mean by publishing with a capital "P".
We would all appreciate editor's guidelines if you would like us to help you with your mission.
2. The 4-hour Top Rated was a great way to find recent posts that were appealing to OS members. Please bring it back ASAP.
3. It's nice to finally find out what happened to Emily. We could have been informed about it a while back.
4. Political content is nice, but that can be found in thousands of places on the Web. There's a lot of non-political creativity here on OS that is way under-appreciated.
5. Oh yeah, good luck.
Watch for awhile.. you'll find members here who regularly post the sort of content you're encouraging. However, you'll also find members posting excellent human interest pieces, travel pieces, as well as the fabled (infamous) 'meta' pieces, fiction - we have some really good poets.. just about everything you might hope to find on a site with a number of writers in residence. It would be a sad thing to inadvertently stifle the variety of good (freely given) work that can be found here by concentrating on encouraging a narrower content..
That said, your suggestions will indeed benefit Big Salon.. perhaps the residents of the many-faceted halls of OS can interpret your encouragement as a signal that such pieces will find their way to not only EPs but Big Salon cover placement as well? That would likely be a welcomed (if unexpected) development ;).
There are good writers here at OS, equal to and above the 'names' whose presence regularly grace the Big Salon cover.. take some of your editorial time to browse the past and present offerings of your membership with an open mind (Open Salon?), you'll be pleasantly surprised I think at what is regularly available :).
Good luck (and longevity) to you, new OS editor Jacob Sugarman.
Good luck.
So those of us in the Rest Of The World are to 'think as Americans' to enhance OS ?
God help us.....
To address some of your concerns, I am by no means exclusively looking for time-sensitive content. Part of what makes Open Salon a great place to post is that it appeals to a wide range of readers' interest, and I have no plans to change that. At the same time, I do want to embolden you all to write pieces that might also work for the website proper.
As for the spam, I know it's become a serious problem of late, and I hope to clean out the site as soon as I'm a little better oriented. Try to bear with me if you can.
Oh, and Kerry... You can blow your "Be Nice" crap out your ass, K?
Now Jakie... Here's the deal, bub... From your "resume" it's clar that you are new at this kinda thing. First job since school, huh?
That's okay. You work with us, we'll work with you. Try to get heavy handed, get petty or try to ignore us and we will do our best to make you cry real big tears.
You catching my drift here, princess? Do I need to leave a newspaper wrapped fish on your doorstep to make it clearer, hon?
Well, do I????
A little tip from the trenches of academia: just read the first three sentences of PMs marked "urgent", then delete. If you didn't find out what was urgent in those, then it wasn't.
Congratulations, and good luck!
@Kerry, thanks for the update on Emily, which puts to rest some disturbing and even prurient rumors trying to explain her absence these past months. I wish her well on her current endeavor and look forward to reading her novel some day. Presumably it's about some of us, in particular a certain orange feline who harbored (and probably still harbors) a feisty infatuation with his erstwhile Ed. I. Tor.
Under the heading of "help us to help you..." I have always wondered what OS gets paid for at a granular level.
Is it number of hits....and if so,...how is it measured?
Is it advertising, and if so, does the ad have to show hits too?
I've been here over two years, and still wonder what you would say to a blogger to help OS generate revenue as the big two or three things???
On the other side of the coin, I will share with you that nowhere on Earth beyond OS would I be allowed to post poetry non-stop like I do...and that is AWESOME!!! (the ability to post it...not t he poetry itself)
................or is that asking to be smacked around a bit???
~nodding~ That was my Grandfather's name!! ~TEARS OF JOY~
:D
Kerry, I wasn't nice to you and I kinda sorta like you, kind of like I like my pillows! They soft!!!
Anyways, I can't call you Jacob or Jake, I had a bad experience with a Jake. Or maybe that's my brother's name, but who cares, you need a nickname, something classy, Sugar Cube!
Okay, now that's out of the way, your title is Ed I Tor. So welcome to the world of Open, Ed I Tor Sugar Cube!!!! I hope Kerry, who I never really ever did give a nickname, that I can repeat in public, doesn't try to steal your soul like he did the last two Ed I Tors!
If he says, "It's time for your review ----" and laughs evily, run, do not walk towards California. Some reason, folks in California don't get soul sucked by him.
Maybe it's the air!!!!
Anyways, seriously, you got a great site here. Some awesome writers.
(Not me ----- I write poop and lots of it!!!)
Paws up on the Open Calls. They've been lacking.
Anyways, good luck, happy times, and don't let Kerry devour your soul, you seem like a nice kid....seriously....RUN AWAY!! RUN AWAY NOW!!!
~hits rate and wanders off~ Hell, I'll even favorite ya....~evil laugh~ ANOTHER ED I TOR TO MY COLLECTION......
Where is the four hour feed? Or is it your intent to stifle the community already established before you came to focus us on your front page pics and what gets the most hits from outside?
Congratulations on your new position as editor and welcome to Open Salon.
Kerry,
Thank you for the news about Emily. It's great to hear that she is doing so well.
or
Fresh Meat!
Always lots of love shared on OS
I find myself emotionally juxtaposed. Maybe other ways besides emotionally too. Overwhelmed.. yeah that might be it.
First, I never expected a new ED I TOR because the site is or was dying. Assuming you work for free like one of those people that answers phones at the NPR fund drive, or Emily. If not, don't feel too guilty, as long it's not more than minimum wage.
Note the enthusiastic welcomes... frankly kind of makes me ill.
We've been so ignored and crapped upon here that we (OK speak for yourself- ME) have become a little, well, jaded.
If I read (hear) even once more that someone cares about the FUCKING SPAM PROBLEM and takes no action, I will... something. Not sure what... YET, but it could have world wide consequences and reverberations. Then again, maybe not.
Seriously, is it not like a kindygarten degree problem? If you (Salon/open) are getting paid by the spammers admit it. If not, would you please turn them off? Thank you! Please, don't want to hear ever again that WE ARE WORKING ON IT. ("As for the spam, I know it's become a serious problem of late, and I hope to clean out the site as soon as I'm a little better oriented. Try to bear with me if you can.)
Talk is cheap and we ain't stooopid.
Hey Kerry! Good to know you're still sucking air? Remember me? We go way back don't we.
Remember too, six months or a year ago, maybe two years... you did a post on a Tuesday, all jazzed about "unique reader hits" or some such thing? Said you'd be a doing a post EVERY TUESDAY after that to keep us updated on this and that. Did you ever follow up, even once? No?
We live in the dark here, totally in the dark like dungeon children, watching as the water rises threatening to drown us and the site we love. Yeah I said it, LOVE.
YOU used to play with us Kerry, and keep us informed.
Did Emily ever once comment on a piece here? (Anyone??)
I thought she did a terrible job, but hope her baby-novel,
whatever is just fine.
So Jake, tag you're it. Smoochies. Please destroy the old black list and start fresh, kill the damned spam (or admit it's revenue), and most importantly, keep US informed.
Too much to ask?
As you can tell we have the feedback thing down.
Keep us informed and good luck.
Looks like introductions have been made. I wish you the best and hope you have a sense of adventure and humor as you will need it here.
@kerry: nice? pffft. when are we anything else? :) btw, please tell emily i said hi and wished her luck.
Consider setting the feed to be related to Cover stories only. Then maybe you could develop and post some sort of tabbed index broken down by major category headings (e.g., politics, fiction, poetry, books, arts, humor, science, etc.). Clicking on the heading would take the reader to a related 4-hour feed for that topic.
Basically it would be one cover page for all and sub-covers by topic. This should allow people to keep up with what their "friends" are reading and at the same time keep the focus on the cover.
And a lot of people who criticize the cover and say they don't look at it really mean they like it better if they're on it. And anyone who says they don't care if they get an EP or not - cares - or it needn't be said.
And you're the new editor so please act like one. Take control of OS and let us know what it's about - your vision and the "rules." This could be a great place with much talent with some active and focused leadership. Best to you.
And I'll catch some flack from some of the club for saying all this. So it goes.
I'm going to guess Emily left you the Official OS Dartboard- used for choosing EP's and the cover. Hope your aim is better than your predecessors.
I hope you prove to be more available to your contributors than folk in the past have been.
'In Australia,' as I'm wont to say, Editors traditionally communicate with their writers. I know the same goes for Europe, but I've learned a different definition applies in America since I've been on OS.
For example, a piece chosen for the cover should ( obviously ) be spell-checked.
I've yet to see that happen here.
Visitors could be forgiven for thinking there has been no Editor here at all, and the take-away message from that is not so good.
Yours is the first communication we've received from 'upstairs' in months.
During that time good writers have dropped away due to the sluggishness of the site ( minutes to load, navigate, even rate ), spam has escalated, comments and entire posts disappear, the whole place goes blank for hours, then re-appears with no explanation, and people ( understandably ) have taken steps to set up alternate venues. More than 200 of your best writers are ready to bail.
An Editor in Australia would be freaking out about any one of those things occurring.
Here, not a word.
Hope to hear more from you, Jacob, but as it appears you have no assistant, I won't be holding my breath.
Meantime the rest of us might help by spell-checking our work and reading it through critically several times at least, before posting.
To read so many misspelled words on cover pieces is embarrassing.
Yes Grif too. Give him some nods and man, we'll take you on some awesome road trips.
Some of the stuff we do is even legal!
Welcome, tryy to bob and weave, and enjoy this amazing collective.
He's one smart cookie so don't forget the quadrupeds. They are watching the watchers......
"Press send please FRed(tm). This place is a good laRf but a jungle."
Saying 'Guys' or 'Dude' makes those in the MotherLand feel nausea'arse.
Not very professional when addressing one's bread n butter either. This is an International Operation isn't it ?
I have no idea about technology( or even html )but I'd suggest that this site could be much more successful if you just cleaned out the spam and communicated with the posters here at reasonable times. Just a "Hiya. site down. sorry." Would most likely do a world of good.
Also, the four hour feed was always a good idea, and should be returned asap. Topicality can be found everyhere. I think the uniqueness of this place should be emphasized instead.
Welcome either way. You look stressed out in your avatar. I don't blame you.
Am glad to read your last paragraph. This is an amazing community.
Already there are many thoughts shared here. For now, I would simply add this. Voice matters here. It helps to speak and it helps to feel heard. It helps to know someone is there and that that someone cares.
First days are first days and we have all been there. This past weekend has been trying here - in part because there was so much dark. I hope you will feel that you can bring a light, that you can speak with us, let us know what you see, what you know about what might be a concern.
There is much life here in the land of many voices. It would help to feel, more actively, that someone in your place cares as much as we.
Welcome, Jake, and may the thrill you feel now never fade away.
Lezlie
In such an early song
I've heard a rumour from Ground Control
Oh no, don't say it's true
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's 4
a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
and does he know
your begging him
please
I assume this removal of it is an attempt to get the cover page stories read more, but I for one am just checking in and then leaving the site as there is still no four-hour feed.
There are just too many of us who rely on the four-hour feed to read, and build an audience when we write -- even with a nice list of favorites, I like to read what is timely too, timely to the conversation of OS, plus, it is too difficult for a post to garner enough attention to make it to the 'most viewed' without the four hour feed -- those posts on 'most-viewed' without it require a built-in outside readership or to be picked for an EP -- which doesn't even mean it's read more, necessarily, and removing the feed doesn't mean they will be read more, necessarily, either, especially if the topics on the front page are just the same as a thousand other sites.
-- I, for one, certainly will find it hard to bother writing --
...if there's little or even just less chance it will be noticed, and it won't without that four-hour feed, neither will anyone else's, unless they have that outside readership mentioned above.
I will be heading on to another site now, but I'd rather read and write here than elsewhere with my rare spare time.
-- please bring back the four-hour feed --
At your request, I've re-activated the four-hour feed. Yesterday was my first day in the office, so I can't explain the logic behind removing it in the first place.
I'm still working on cleaning up all the spam, but it may take a little while to get it under control. I promise we'll get there.
PUT BACK THE GOD DAMN 4 HOUR FEED!
We are very soon going to be taking that as a big 'ol "Vaffanculo" from you and get kinda pissed, ya know? It ain't gonna be pretty when that happens, trust me on that. I want you to start out right here Jakie. You ain't do'in so go. It would behoove you to fix that presto. Capiche???
Seeing as how we cross posted, please feel free to delete my last comment. (I said delete it, not forgot it!).
I...I...feel faint....
Thanks for coming along and taking the reins. I know this is a daunting task, with incredible amounts of reading for you. For many of us, this forum has been a bright spot in our lives. Open Salon has given all of us a chance to explore and sharpen our creativity. This platform has helped create strong writers, and artists, who's work deserved a wider, critical audience. It has been an excellent forum for displaying many emergent art forms, including flash fiction, flash video, macro video, new poetry, new critical writing for the arts, sound, and other things yet to be discovered.
I wish you the best, and thank you for taking on this difficult task.
Sincerely,
Gary Justis
Oh. And I don't want to be promoted on FaceBook or Twitter. OS is safe space for me and I'd like to keep it that way.
I expect that I'll never get another EP and that's fine; just hoping I'll be allowed to keep playing in this sandbox.
Jeff, behave.
The closest town here had a Jake. What a bird.
He stood on the street curb and exposed self.
`
He gor sent to Weston, W.V. - A Nut House.
Honest. He began giving folks the mid finger.
Then he started giggling loud and unzipped.
`
He was hilarious.
Tourist got scared.
He got sent away.
`
It's a true sad story.
He was about thirty.
You ever delete me?
`
Interns delete folk?
`
P.S.
I had to resign in.
I do often lately.
You tech team?
`
You get an invite to the White House?
They have a congressional picnic today.
You have to send Social Security info.
`
Ask Kerry if he get Picnic Invite?
Sometimes life gets confusing.
If you delete people? Loser.
So count me in as supporting that.
I also second the checking in on the Readers' Picks, because a lot of work goes into that.
I'm a very wordy guy, so I'm doing my best to be concise here and still say what's on my mind.
Welcome (or is it, Sucka!) to the madhouse. I don't mind posting on topicality, but I tend to move to social issues, progressive (not in the political sense) ideas, future changes for the betterment of mankind stuff -- and I have a tendency to poetry, humor, life stories (hopefully with a point) and fiction when I can, but lately my passion is for photography and photo essays are a really under-appreciated form of online "writing."
If I can respond to an Open Call that is topical I will attempt to do so. Meanwhile, good luck in your new position and, from my perspective of waiting a few days, I'd say you're off to a decent start. Hang in there, most of these curmudgeons are really decent folks. They're understandably skeptical and jaded based on the last six months or so as things have steadily worsened.
Once again, welcome and good luck!
Oh, yes, thanks so much for the four hour feed. Now I can find more people to read. Much more efficient with the four hour feed.
**whispers** I HEART U 2!! **whispers off**
Teehee!
*wanders back off into the thorn bushes*
Tinkerertink69
June 25, 2012 07:14 PM
We are told our writing is not as interesting or applicable.
To keep a well rounded site, you need to encourage all writing. Or it will become a snobbery and people will leave.
Yes, some of it is drivel. But we like that drivel.
Some of the most interesting comments have followed that drivel.
I agree - we should write about current events, but truth be told, even some opf the most prolific political jopurnalists can have too much and even they will turn to idle entertainment.
Many start our day here with Jonathan Wolfman who is a responsible political journalist, but we also broaden our reading with many eclectic compositions:
Start with Ande Bliss who writes wonderful journalistic biographies that make any of her subjects into heroes and heroines.
Then some of the best parenting adviceAccidental Dad, a male Erma Bombeck,
then of course Tink the Open Salon pet.
I never much cared for poetry until Salon: Romantic Poetess
and M.C.Sears.
Then treat yourself to some visual candy with the photographic talent right here on Salon Linda Sceppasina (also the resident welcome wagon)and Stathi Stahti, and do not forget Algis.
And anyone suffering personally from the effects of cancer which are more in number than we ever could have imagined, will find nothing inspirational in political diatribe as they will in CancerDancer’s
You need to read more!
Many start our day here with Jonathan Wolfman who is a responsible political journalist, but we also broaden our reading with the eclectic journalism of Ande Bliss who writes wonderful journalistic biographies that make any of her subjects into heroes and heroines
Then some of the best parenting adviceAccidental Dad, a male Erma Bombeck, then of course Tink the Open Salon pet.
I never much cared for poetry until Salon: Romantic Poetess
and M.C.Sears.
Then treat yourself to some visual candy with the photographic Geniuses right here on Salon Linda Sceppasina (also the resident welcome wagon)and Stathi Stahti, and do not forget Algis.
And anyone suffering personally from the effects of cancer which are more in number than we ever could have imagined, will find nothing inspirational in political diatribe as they will in CancerDancer’s painful yet joyous journalism.
You need to read more!
I am glad I finally did,feels like an initiation ritus.
Welcome to OS,Jake, and a thousand thank you's for fixing the messed up OS.Now I'll have a chance to relax again.
~r~