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AP Exchange and MLB help

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by MoeLarryCurly, May 8, 2009.

  1. MoeLarryCurly

    MoeLarryCurly New Member

    OK, some specifics, we have InDesign, InCopy, the Falcon system. So most if not all of our AP content is pulled through that.

    Last night the MLB boxes (the regular, not the wide or line scores), were not coming across in there.

    I log on to exchange they are all there, but here's the problem. The standings and also the boxes are unable to be formatted in InCopy when pulled from Exchange. Would someone please enlighten me as to a possible better way to pull these from exchange and format them so I don't lose my mind at night trying to use exchange, or scrambling to figure out what to do about these damn box scores.

    Oh and just a quick point....the guy at the AP when I called last night requesting some help and just seeing if there was a problem with the wire itself, was a total jackass, rude, very inconsiderate and simply said "The problem is on your end," and kept repeating that.
     
  2. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    An AP guy was like that? No way!
     
  3. MoeLarryCurly

    MoeLarryCurly New Member

    I know, I was stunned too. ;-) I couldn't believe that someone who is supposed to be available for questions and any assistance possible would need a nice smack in the mouth. But that's exactly what I'd suggest for that, um gentleman.
     
  4. SCEditor

    SCEditor Active Member

    Call AP and ask for help? I gave that up months ago. We have the same problem with our boxes. Some days they move; some days they don't. Fortunately, we can copy and paste them into our program and it doesn't take too long to reformat. I suggest sending a snarky e-mail to the bureau chief everytime you have a problem. It doesn't actually work, but it can be very soothing for about a month, until the bureau chief calls your boss and whines and complains because their feelings got hurt.
     
  5. MoeLarryCurly

    MoeLarryCurly New Member

    I think I can do that...heavy on the snarky of course.
     
  6. lesboulez

    lesboulez Member

    falcon...ahh...being at one of the first papers to use that POS was so much fun...best thing ever was when it used to just lose all of your work, no warning...usually while saving. my editor's advice?

    "don't save."

    as for your problem. i used to format them myself, using an old one. time consuming? yes. but it worked.
     
  7. Oh, Falcon. God have mercy on you, sir.
     
  8. ewt112

    ewt112 New Member

    Accepting prayers and thoughts daily as well. The Falcon system is a total POS. Give me Quark and a Mac anyday over this garbage.
     
  9. CarltonBanks

    CarltonBanks New Member

    Spend the money on the CanWest AP baseball page that comes in a pdf already formatted. It's a lifesaver.
     
  10. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Awesome, you can lay off another agate editor.
     
  11. CarltonBanks

    CarltonBanks New Member

    Assuming you have a large staff with multiple agate editors. Not all of us are so fortunate.
     
  12. Angola!

    Angola! Guest

    We have Falcon, which does tend to lose work at will (I always do a ctrl-a ctrl-c before saving), but I don't have any problems with it in Quark, though it can move slow sometimes.

    I have no idea how to clean stuff up easier off the wire.

    To the thread starter: Do you use Word with Falcon? If you do, you might try pasting stuff from Exchange into Notepad and then copying it into a file that already has your agate font in it. That generally helps us clean stuff up faster if we pull it from the internet, I guess because it takes out the built in tabs and makes it so our wire cleanup does its job correctly.
     
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