eNotes Editors Group at eNotes

Perhaps you could include more of a division between professional...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:02:09 PST

Perhaps you could include more of a division between professional discussion boards and students who ask questions for discussion purposes. If posters were able to be directed to the category of their choice more easily, I think that it would improve the efficiency of the site and the validity of the posts for all involved.

Help us Improve Discussion Boards

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:22:31 PST

Hi Editors,

We're going to be overhauling the Discussion Boards, please let us know some ways you think they could be improved.

We'll be reformatting the Discussion Boards main page, as well as the actual discussions themselves.

The content of the discussions is a different subject, this is just how we present them and how the site works. All comments are appreciated!

Hi, I am Hope, I teach geometry this year, been teaching 10, and I'm...

Sun, 4 Oct 2009 20:32:13 PST

Hi, I am Hope, I teach geometry this year, been teaching 10, and I'm very glad to be here! Thank you. Hope

Hi, I teach 7th grade social studies at a charter school. My areas of...

Sun, 4 Oct 2009 07:20:08 PST

Hi, I teach 7th grade social studies at a charter school. My areas of interest are ancient civilizations and the Holocaust. I am an aspiring amateur archaeologist and had the good fortune to go on a dig in Bulgaria two years ago. There, I excavated a first century Roman villa. I've been freelancing for about two years for a variety of companies.

A related problem is deleting answers. I was answering too late one...

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:23:09 PST

A related problem is deleting answers. I was answering too late one night and I mentally reversed two Eastern religous systems, and the next morning someone had corrected me. I left my incorrect answer so the students could see what the second poster was referencing. But I read one thread where the opening line was something like, "That's not quite true," and it then went on to clarify. The problem was that the untrue answer was gone and...

Great comments/suggestions from everyone. Regarding the bonus criteria...

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:31:34 PST

Great comments/suggestions from everyone. Regarding the bonus criteria in the Q&A section, the complete guidelines that reviewers follow are available here in your Editor help menu. Scroll down to the "Getting Bonuses" section. The guidelines in brief: The response must be an excellent, error-free answer that is at least 90 words. The editor must edit, tag, and rate the student question. Source links must be provided. If you have any...

If this relates to bonuses, I think it might be helpful for Scott or...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:39:29 PST

If this relates to bonuses, I think it might be helpful for Scott or Jamie to tell us just how they are awarded. I have never been able to figure it out. Some of the answers that I liked the best didn't "make it" and others that were a bit more mundane (perhaps due to the nature of the question) did get a bonus. I have been busy with work lately, and many of the questions have not been about things I can help with, so I haven't gotten...

One suggestion I have to deal with this situation is to provide a...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:46:35 PST

One suggestion I have to deal with this situation is to provide a facility to editors to add a short note when they flag an answer as inappropriate. This will enable people at eNotes to examine in greater detail the likely cases of malpractices. This facility will also help identify answers that are incorrect, misdirected or incomplete. Editors are unable to point this out when a question is closed for further editor answers.

I think that what happens sometimes is that there are so many editors...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:16:08 PST

I think that what happens sometimes is that there are so many editors answering these questions, we get in a rush to be the first one to post the answer, thinking it will more likely qualify us for a bonus. I know of several editors who post just a few words in order to be first in line for answering, and then they go back and answer more fully. It's like someone holding your spot in line for you until you get there personally to fill the...

This is a hard one to deal with. On the one hand, we need to have the...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:43:43 PST

This is a hard one to deal with. On the one hand, we need to have the ability to go back an edit answers to fix typos, mistakes, etc. On the other hand, as krishna points out, this can be abused. I think speamerfan has it right when she says we must self-police. Please contact Scott or Jamie if you notice people abusing the edit form, so we can make sure everyone is on the same page regarding their proper usage. I welcome more comments of this...

I agree with you on this one. I have used the editing function to...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:02:23 PST

I agree with you on this one. I have used the editing function to correct typos in my answers. However, I have also submitted second answers under circumstances in which I discovered I was incorrect on my own or had not provided sufficient information. In those cases, I have made clear that I was trying to "correct the record." I cannot imagine myself using someone else's response, without attribution, to make myself look...

Is it ethical to change answer once posted substantially using the edit...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:29:08 PST

I have noticed that some people post an inappropriate or incomplete answer, and then after a better answer is posted by someone else, change their answer substantially using the edit facility. I observe an incident like this today itself in maths group.

By doing this they give the impression that the correct answer was posted by them before the subsequent answer. I think this is also a form of plagiarism, as they fail to acknowledge...

I teach high school in a small rural school, and I abosolutely love what...

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 19:00:36 PST

I teach high school in a small rural school, and I abosolutely love what I do. This summer I attended a month long writing workshop--an affiliate of the National Writing Project. While I love teaching, I would also love to find some reputable publishing outlets for writing.

Hi ! I'm a new editor here. I've been teaching English at the university...

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 13:32:33 PST

Hi ! I'm a new editor here. I've been teaching English at the university level since 1982. In the past 5 to 6 years I have been doing a lot more writing and editing because I am tired of teaching. Is there anybody out there in my situation ? Now I am teaching part-time at a public school in the ELL Department. Ugh ! I wonder how long I will hold up ? ha ! ha ! I have access to a lot of teachers now, so I might do some marketing for enaotes,...

Hi. I'm a secondary science teacher currently unemployed in CA due to...

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:03:24 PST

Hi. I'm a secondary science teacher currently unemployed in CA due to the budget crisis. I'm taking a break from teaching and going back to school full-time to earn my Master's degree in Science Education. For eight years, I taught Earth Science, Astronomy, Chemistry, and Physical Science, so I can answer many of the physical science questions posted in the Q and A section. This is my first real endeavor in online publishing, and I hope to...

New editor here! I hope to do my best, so any suggestions or advice you...

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:29:13 PST

New editor here! I hope to do my best, so any suggestions or advice you might have would be appreciated. I'm a former English major (straight A's, summa cum laude). I've worked as a writer and editor for a top educational company and tutored high school and college English students. Currently, I am a freelance writer and editor.

Welcome, New Editors!

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:22:50 PST

Hello to all the new editors on the site! We're very happy to have you onboard and working with us. If you want to introduce yourself to the community, please feel free to do so in this thread.

I think that the paradigm of teachers, most probably, at the collegiate...

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:03:50 PST

I think that the paradigm of teachers, most probably, at the collegiate level, has many advantages that have been indicated in the above posts. I think it is a challenge for any "migrant" worker to establish roots and develop the elements that seem to work well with established roots, such as family and domesticity. I am not suggesting that these cannot be accomplished with a "migrant" life, but I think it's much harder. I believe it...

I think reaching out to teachers is a good way to bring in more...

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:55:32 PST

I think reaching out to teachers is a good way to bring in more teachers. I think sending out emails to teachers in school districts might be a good thing because my experience is that teachers do not know about enotes. Many would give much to enotes and good things would happen if we could pull more teachers. If possible, advertising on teaching websites would also be a good thing. I am not sure if these things could be done, but...

Thanks for the great comments. We try to close questions as soon as an...

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:36:38 PST

Thanks for the great comments. We try to close questions as soon as an approved answer has been posted, but because we have to close them manually, multiple editors have sometimes responded before we can do so. If the answers were posted around the same time (i.e., within 30 minutes), we usually allow those multiple answers to remain on the site. We're also working on a better way to identify similar questions that have already been asked and...