An editorial GTKY, by request of His Noderness Grand Vizier Lord Brawl
My name, for the purpose of this piece, is Apatrix. I've been on E2 since April 2001. I've been an editor since September 2001. I've been an admin since August 2002. You almost never see me in the catbox but you may have seen me responding to calls for editorial assistance. My personal details are given on a need to know basis. Those who need to know already know. Those who've met me have seen for themselves.
What qualifies me as an E2 admin? Experience, if nothing else. I was active on IRC as a server operator and/or help channel staffer for many years before joining E2, and my job description has included some end-user support and/or documentation for the best part of the last seven years, and interaction with the public for most of my working life. My writing has seen the light of the printing press and on occasion has earned me money. I'm also one of a handful of admins who are also techs by trade and help manage the technical side of E2--that is, performing the necessary voodoo dances and ritual sacrifices to keep it running, as well as handling tasks for which normal editor tools are insufficient.
What do I do on E2? I patrol the deep end. Jump into it, go off it, plumb the depths, whichever. My admin team role is that of a wildcard player who does practically every job on the list at some point and is willing to handle the hot potatoes. Although I generally leave the front-line editing to the members of the editorial group and loosely monitor editorial activity, I do also fill many requests and apply many small edits and fixes. I used to rack up massive numbers of nukes but these days my editorial activity involves very few deletions. My pet peeve is litterbugs who leave blank writeups and lame nodeshells lying around. That's liable to earn you a nasty message from me. I may come across as a bit stern and intimidating but am really one of the most approachable staff members and will listen and give straight answers on pretty much any subject. I'm around at random times of the day and night.
My early advisors and role models were wharfinger and Demeter. (Hears cries of "I knew wharfinger, and
you, Sir, ain't no wharfinger." Bite me.) From wharfinger I learned to lead by example, when to bend the rules, and to
support the staff. From Demeter I learned to appreciate diverse content, and to contain myself and slap my hand
before it pushed the buttons--usually. JayBonci, dem bones, and Lord Brawl get credit for being those who
rein me in (usually in time to keep me from making a complete ass of myself) when I go off the deep end, which
happens when my sense of propriety gets the better of me--that is, regularly enough to make me the loudest bitch
in the admin group.
I'm part of the mentoring coordinators group, the node title gang, and now, along with several non-staffers, host an E2-centric off-site discussion forum. I've sponsored a number of usergroups and have set up a few but don't lead any of them anymore. I'm one of the "executive council" of policy debaters but whether that's on merit or by virtue of having a big mouth is not for me to judge. Overall I'm one of the most active people on the staff behind the scenes. I wish I were inclined to node more often but I share the noding public's dissatisfaction with The Bar and am not terribly inclined to aim for its dizzy heights. I confess that I find more satisfaction contributing as an ordinary user to other collaborative sites these days than I do posting on E2. I hope that will change, for others in the same position as well as for myself, as we make progress with the plans for E2's future.
"E2 is people" is something that I'm sometimes quoted as saying. Sure, it sounds like a dumb ol' platitude but it's something that I strongly believe--a reflection of what I've discovered working here and elsewhere on-line. I've engaged noders on a personal level and noders now constitute the bulk of my small circle of close friends. I've met other people whom I encouraged and who blossomed into respected writers, popular noders, and even the odd (I'd say "occasional" but "odd" fits better) editor. I've had my failures and have seen people who couldn't handle my no-nonsense style of advice take the highway rather than do it my way. I try to learn from all of them and apply the lessons to E2's benefit. After all, E2 *is* people and that's not going to change.
These being times of (impending) change, my vision for the future mostly coincides with the general set of ideas for The New E2. It includes an E2 with more transparency and
accountability; more opportunities for users, especially new users, to see and treat it as a community; a better and more modern user interface; many other big and little things that will make it easier and more attractive for people to contribute and make it more Everything than Anything or Whatever. We're working on it.
Some of the many writeups that I use to show people what E2 is about:
...and some of the people whose overall work I admire:
- Tem42, grandmaster of the short, handy, factual writeup.
- Tlachtga and her ever improving Celtic Encyclopaedia.
- sekicho for managing to be both thorough and prolific
- Lometa and her authoritative commentary on bits of the English language
- liontamer and her passionate telling of real life stories
Not to toot my own horn but the Brawlster asked us to. My own stuff that I like:
You may find me scooting about behind the scenes on E2 or you may run into me at a nodermeet. I probably won't bite,
though I may lurk in the shadows under your bed. I'm just creepy like that.