Housekeeping Notes for the New Regime
Posted on August 4, 2020 Posted by John Scalzi 26 Comments
Athena has officially announced her return here so I don’t need to do that; nevertheless a couple of quick notes:
1. The current theme doesn’t have a byline noting which of us is posting, so for the foreseeable future we’ll be putting our initials at the end of our posts to distinguish them. You know, in case the difference in how we present ourselves in text isn’t enough (and who knows, it might not be).
So, if you see a post end in “AMS,” that’s Athena, and “JS” will signify me, John Scalzi. Big Idea posts will be unsigned by either of us (since those are written by their book’s author). Additionally, Athena’s posts will have an “Athena Scalzi” category tag, which you’ll be able to see on the individual entry page but not on the main page of the blog.
(For everyone about to give me theme tips and suggestions as to what I should do with bylines or dates on the posts, etc, please don’t. I’ll tweak and update when/if I can or when/if I feel like it, but for the moment, this is how we’re doing things. Thanks.)
2. You’ll note a couple of cosmetic changes, perhaps, notably that the portrait on the Whatever front page now features both me and Athena; the Whatever information lists her as an editor/writer; and the information about the site has been updated to include her as well. That’s because, well, we’re making changes here and the look and information should reflect that, obviously.
3. Also (I think) obviously, Athena writes differently than I do and has different interests and concerns, and I think that that’s great; my job as an editor is to help her shape her voice and tone to be even more like herself, not to change it into something that she’s not. As a result the overall tone and content for Whatever will change as the site incorporates more of her stuff into it. I’m looking forward to this; be ready for it.
With that said, remember that the rules of the road still apply here. Both Athena and I have moderating capability — yes, Athena has the Mallet — and part of my job as editor here is training her how to use it. To be clear, nearly everyone who comments here regularly does so because they understand the rules, and I don’t expect that to change. You folks are grand. But given how much I catch myself annoyingly mansplaining things to her (and to her mother, which is even more fraught), let’s just say I expect a few slip ups here and there. If you can catch yourself before that happens, that would be nice. But if you don’t, we’ll give you a tap.
I think that’s it for now. Welcome to Whatever as a two-person shop. It will be fun while it lasts.
— JS
But does Althena wield The Mallet of Loving Correction, like the New Thor?
“I for one welcome our new Gen-Z overlord”
Q: will your new regime include a commitment to increased numbers of new cats? or just more pictures? will the cats ever get their own byline?
on more serious note: you could offer up to us 50-somethings a perspective upon how your generation just got royally bollixed in so many novel ways…
Welcome Athena! I look forward to seeing you develop your writing skills! And, like your dad, I have my 19 and 23 year olds living with me for the foreseeable future. Gen X and Gen Z have to band together to make it through! (I remember in the late 80s we had a joke: ‘What’s the difference between a Boomer and a Buster (= Gen X before Gen X was named Gen X)? A job!’ So we know the struggle well. I am now approaching 60 and have never had a job with bennies. Time for this to change for the youth of today — or you will be just living in our houses until you inherit them, like in the good ol’ days 100 years ago!) Anyway, you’re blessed to have food, shelter and health care from the parents and we of the parents generation want you to have a future you can thrive in.
This is just an inoffensive comment for Athena to practice deleting.
In the event that offensive content is required to prompt deletion: Highlander 2 is better than the original.
As a member in good standing of the “Middle Initial M” club, I’m wondering what Athena’s M stands for (I’d also ask why I haven’t seen her at the meetings, but, y’know, Covid).
Is there one Mallet that the two of you share, or do John and Athena each have their own Mallet?
Just remember to disinfect the mallet between hand-overs.
Exactly how many milliseconds after starting to mansplain to Krissy does your self-preservation instinct kick in?
Welcome, Athena! I look forward to hearing your thoughts and concerns here.
Note: pet pictures, please!
As far as tweaking/updating the theme, that sounds like a job your new intern could handle. Just saying.
Your RSS feed kindly says that some posts are by John Scalzi and others are by athenascalzi, so at least a small percentage of your audience can tell.
Looking forward to hearing from both you and Athena. I hope she enjoys writing posts and teaching us old folks a thing or two.
@james battista, oh you sweet summer child. Highlander 2 is Shakespeare compared to Highlander: The Source.
Looking forward to Athena’s input!
I would hope that training Athena to use the Mallet will lead to teaching her to drive the Countryman. (Unless she’s already learned stick, but I think I’d have read about that by now if so.) My recently unemployed older daughter (24) has finally decided to learn, and my wife is giving her lessons in our remaining manual car, a 2006 Forester.
I think it would be kind of cool to have a post where every response gets the mallet. The Young Scalzi would get some practice, and we would all feel better about helping Whatever become a better blog for everyone.
Also, I hate the new response layout.
Hah, the byline is present in my RSS reader!
I think a picture of Athena with the Mallet of loving correction (did you ever trademark that? It has a great ring to it!) would be awesome. Just sayin’.
Looking forward to all the content!
Athena should learn stick in a car where the clutch can be replaced fairly easily, like an old air cooled VW. Like I did.
Clearly AMS needs a pale-purple background photo to go behind her comments, to complement JS.
KEY QUESTIONS: will the blog remain as angry and sticky as before? Yes, it matters! Love, The Frosting Federation of America
Welcome Athena! Only thing better than one Scalzi is two Scalzies, amiright? (wait, what’s the correct spelling for more than one Scalzi?)
Technically, “scalzi” in Italian is already plural. Here we have one Scalzo and one Scalza as co-editors, making two Scalzi in all.
Is Athena as politically oriented as yourself? Just wondering. You need to have a confident voice to go there knowing what that might stir up.
Weirdly, the Android Twitter in-app web browser tags the author. So the data is in there somewhere!
@ Logopgage (word eater) I might add that although it usually comes in batches on your fork, the singular for spaghetti is spaghetto. And of course the singular for data is datum.
JD Paul, it also shows the author in Feedly.