Kiss today goodbye ...

[pressboxer]

My shop announced this week that "today" is no longer to be used in copy except in direct quotes. Instead, we are to use the appropriate day of the week.

The move makes sense from the standpoint that most items are posted online the day before they appear in print, but it's going to take some getting used to when writing advances. Kickoff is no longer at 2 p.m. today. Kickoff is now 2 p.m. Saturday.

 

[Versatile]

Good. Everyone should do this. My shop never will.

 

[deskslave]

Makes sense in the Web age. I can remember a FB friend of mine getting all up in arms because she read a story that had gone viral about Six Flags in Texas having a day for Muslims on what was supposed to be the anniversary of 9/11. Unfortunately, the story just said "Sunday" and no one had bothered to notice that the date stamp was Sept. 3, meaning that the event was Sept. 4.

Where I work, which is pretty much Web-only, we simply don't use any phrases that require knowing what the date referenced is -- next week, last year, etc. At least we're not supposed to.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

It's so hard to say goodbye to Yesterday.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

But who's going to be the catcher?

 

[HanSenSE]

But who's going to be the catcher?

Nicely played.

 

[boundforboston]

Why not have different styles for online and print? You can do things differently online than print. Unfortunately, my shop doesn't realize that.

 

[Mark2010]

At most places I've been, just the opposite was true. We were encouraged to change the day of the week to "today", although when editing fast, that often didn't get done.

 

[bigpern23]

"When will then be now?" "Soon."

I didn't even have to click the link to laugh at that one. Great pull.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

The first paper I worked at did this and I really liked it.

 

[daemon]

Same policy at our shop. As both a reader and a writer, I hate it. Every story should have a time and a date stamp. As a reader, my habit is to look at the time and date stamp, and read the story from that perspective. I'm probably in the minority, but whatever.

 

[MileHigh]

Our style is today in print, day of the week for online. And I think that's the right approach.

 

[Versatile]

Same policy at our shop. As both a reader and a writer, I hate it. Every story should have a time and a date stamp. As a reader, my habit is to look at the time and date stamp, and read the story from that perspective. I'm probably in the minority, but whatever.

What website doesn't time and date stamp every story?

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Same policy at our shop. As both a reader and a writer, I hate it. Every story should have a time and a date stamp. As a reader, my habit is to look at the time and date stamp, and read the story from that perspective. I'm probably in the minority, but whatever.

What website doesn't time and date stamp every story?

I've run across a few, although I can't recall specifics. I'm also 90.12 per cent certain I've run across stories a few years back on BigNationalSportsWebsite (or two) that had no easily discernible evidence of when the thing was posted (or updated).

 

[Armchair_QB]

Why not have different styles for online and print? You can do things differently online than print. Unfortunately, my shop doesn't realize that.

Well, that's just too damn much work. Might have to hire another copy editor.

Or not "furlough" all of them...

 

[pressboxer]

Why not have different styles for online and print? You can do things differently online than print. Unfortunately, my shop doesn't realize that.

Well, that's just too damn much work. Might have to hire another copy editor.

Or not "furlough" all of them...

Bingo. We have four people that handle all that for web and print, but two (one daytime, one nighttime) that deal with probably 80-90 percent of the copy. The other two are their backups for days off, etc.

When breaking stories are coming in at print deadline, which seems to happen an awful lot lately, one person has to do everything all at once.

 

[boundforboston]

How long does it take to change "today" to "Friday?" Also, you could just post as is and then update online version after finishing your pages.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

How long does it take to change "today" to "Friday?" Also, you could just post as is and then update online version after finishing your pages.

You ask a good question. I'll get back to you Friday.

 

[expendable]

How long does it take to change "today" to "Friday?" Also, you could just post as is and then update online version after finishing your pages.

You ask a good question. I'll get back to you Friday.

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger Friday.

 

[dirtybird]

Always hated using today. Really hated going into quotes and changing todays, yesterdays and tomorrows. Just write in the attribution when they said it and be done with it.