spoon-business: Sorry about this...

["Glotmorf" <glotmorf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Replace Proposal 473 in its entirety with the following:

{{ _If It's Not Worth Reading At All, It's Not Worth Reading Well_

[[

We were assembling the prototype when I got the message.  It was a delicate job, and I was suddenly not a very delicate person, so I handed the work off to Bob and set off downtown.

I marched into the Society's office.  The same secretary was there...all 300 pounds of her, scowling into a paperback.  I noticed this time the name plaque I'd overlooked before: Ursula Major.

Her same attitude was there too. "Yeah?"

I waved the message at her.  "Miss Major...I just heard about this new payment policy."

"Yeah?"

"The readers are going to determine my pay?"

"Yeah."

"You can't be serious!"

At that she finally looked up at me.  She looked serious.

I faltered under that gaze.  "I mean...it's...This is a scientific journal!  I'm not writing for entertainment!"

"You're submitting in prose form, right?"

"Well...yeah..."

"Prose form's supposed to be entertaining.  People read it for entertainment.  They don't get entertained, they don't read.  And we don't get paid money for paying you."

"Where does it say I have to be entertaining?"

She pulled a huge dictionary from somewhere in her desk, slammed it down in front of me, and turned to the definition of "story."

"But the policy says story or narrative!"

She picked up a pen and a submission guideline brochure and made some changes:

]]

Perform the following changes to _Prose Forms_, Rule 438:

In the first paragraph, replace the text "or narrative" with "(defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary as, 'a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse or instruct the hearer or reader; a tale')"

[[

"Happy now?"

I sighed. "Fine.  I can see you're not budging on that.  But you're still using this reader poll...you're letting people say they don't want my article at all, but you're still asking for their rating.  They're not going to give it a fair rating if they don't approve of it at all!"

She shrugged and made another change.

]]

In the second paragraph, insert after the text "other than the proponent" the text "who voted in favor of the proposal."

[[

She placed the annotated brochure in her out-basket and turned back to her book.  "I'll submit this to the editors for consideration," she droned.  "Anything else?"

"I...Well, I'm still unhappy about this whole thing!"

"Noted.  Have a nice day."

]]

}}