Enforcing AP style, active voice, etc.

Ace and Frank are right.
Style guides are simply that, not a mission.

 

No, you're wrong. Tends to happen to people who simply guess or make assumptions.
I'm not advocating using a 9 when, according to style, it should be spelled out. But do you really think your readers give a shit, either way?

 

What he said.

Not caring about style suggests to me that you don't care PERIOD. Style is a vital element of writing. If you don't care about a vital element of your craft, you shouldn't disrespect those of us who do care about it.

 

what he said.

 

No disrespect intended. Nothing wrong with adhering to style. But obsessing over it?

 

If you do it right the first time, like I try to do when I write, the editor shouldn't need to obsess over it. And how long does it take to change a couple words around or remove some comas?

 

Not so easy, smart guy. Some people are in comas for years.

 

Pretty much any large paper has its own stylebook, usually based on AP's but with varying numbers of exceptions, and after you do it long enough, you start to see how silly it can be. Like, don't we all have better things to do than write down and memorize exceptions to AP style when there's really nothing so awful about AP style anyway? Overemphasis on this demeans copy editors, who ought to be spending their time improving stories conceptually and factually instead of ensuring conformity to arcane rules that no one besides them seems to know or care about. Any decent copy editor will have a good enough sense of the rules after a month or so at a new place, but becoming a hair-splitting expert is something I lost interest in when I recognized that big-picture copy editors are the ones who are the most valued on good desks.

 

I wouldn't say I obsess over it.

It's second nature to me.

 

No, but I'll be sure to stay inside the next time it rains.

 

Give me a break. A coma is like a good nap. Afterward, all you want is your toothbrush and a good sandwich.

 

damn frank, if i didn't know you better, that'd sound like an excuse for being lazy.