Proofreading in the Workshops (split from The Sallman Head)

[ellajam]

Rivernotch's intro to a critique:

Trying out something different. Riverproof is me proofreading the work (to the best of my unprofessional, but professionally obsessive-compulsive, abilities), and as such is expected to be immediately addressed, in the poem if an unconscious decision, in a reply if conscious. All else, actual crit, which in this case, however long my last note is, is fairly short, I think -- I'm just feeling especially wordy today.

ellajam wrote:

??? Are you saying the OP must address your notes immediately? All the OP is required to do is consider comments, not take action.

RiverNotch: I will look at your critiques. Thanks for spending time with the piece.

I am going to ask that you remember that this is my work and not yours -- demanding that I make certain changes or respond to you in a particular way is inappropriate and a boundary violation. Please refrain from doing this in the future.

Best,

lizziep

Ah, sorry. I treat all crits, both given and received, as two parts strangely blended together: one part actual critiquing (so, talking about aesthetic choices, moral issues, spiritual feelings, etc.), the other part basic proofreading -- here, I tried to clarify the divide between the two, since I consider proofreading to be essentially universal, being based on more concrete rules. Thus the expectation that they be responded to immediately, as in they receive the greatest priority if the lines are not to be changed in sense or style, and not as in the temporal sense, since they are, again, based on more concrete rules, and are all focused on fairly superficial errors. I suppose my language was just a little too aggressive.

[ellajam]

For me, if someone points out I have typed thr instead of the, or, as I believe the first crit I received here was rowen's suggestion I examine my "it's", , I will make a quick edit. But even a reminder that a question is mising a question mark will take more time as I examine the poem with and without it.

I am constantly placing commas and removing them, changing them to semicolons and semicolons to periods and back again: My decisions are time consuming.

A word used unconventionally may be a choice, a tense confusion may be an error or the only way I can make the poem work, bringing something I want. IMO proofreading is the same as any other crit in that it should be seriously considered by the OP and acted upon as they think best suits their poem.

[QDeathstar]

If you don't have the disipline to proofread your work and have alot of misspelled words, then ofcourse you should edit in basic proofreading corections.

[Leanne]

Lizzie, thank you for your measured response to this suggestion. Your assertion that your writing is yours and not the critic's is absolutely correct and enshrined in our critiquing guidelines.

I have seen an increasing number of comments demanding attention to what is often called a 'rule' but is, at the end of the day, no more than a stylistic choice or adherence to a different school of writing. Sometimes, in fact, it has been pure wrongheaded pedantry. For example, I've lost count of the number of times an American has tried to insistently correct my British English spelling or even the date format.

While a critique is a courtesy for which we should be grateful, it is also a courtesy to post your poems for the enjoyment of others. Neither poet nor critic has the right to make demands of the other.

[aschueler]

If you don't have the disipline to proofread your work and have alot of misspelled words, then ofcourse you should edit in basic proofreading corections.

Dude.

[QDeathstar]

^^???

[aschueler]

Figured your post was a joke...now this is my faux pas. I think I had too much coffee:

If you don't have the disipline to proofread your work and have alot of misspelled words, then ofcourse you should edit in basic proofreading corections.



Discipline

a lot

of course

corrections

Thought you did that on purpose considering the nature of your posting

[QDeathstar]

I spell my words differently, sir. Thought this was a #nojudgement zone.

^discipline shouldn't be capitalized in your corrections.

[aschueler]

I spell my words differently, sir. Thought this was a #nojudgement zone.

^discipline shouldn't be capitalized in your corrections.