[Matt Q]

Maybe it depends on if you actually log in and out of the Sphere?

I usually just stay logged in. I just close the browser window or navigate away when I'm done. I don't actually log out. I never have to enter a password to get into Deep Drills or Eratosphericals.

However, I just tried logging out and got a message saying my cookies had been cleared. When I logged back in, I did then have to use the password to get in to Eratosphericals and Deep Drills.

[Max Goodman]

Originally Posted by Matt Q

I see all the new posts that appear in other password-protected forums in D&A; they show up in the "What's New" list.

I've never seen the "What's New" list, and a control-F search while I'm logged in doesn't find it. I'm glad to know, though, that others find Eratosphericals helpful.

Apparently moderators don't object to our sharing journal experiences here in General Talk, in which case those doing the sharing can choose which forum to post in.

[Matt Q]

Sorry, Max, it's "New Posts", not "What's New".

Or, in the "Quick Links" menu, it's "Today's Posts".

[Max Goodman]

Thanks, Matt. (Those are both new to me.)

[Maryann Corbett]

I've added a new post to the Pub thread, mostly to see whether it's actually visible to those of you who get to Eratosphericals via "New Posts." Hope it's useful.

While I was there, I did a bit of updating to the sticky post with general pub information, deleting bad links.

[Matt Q]

I saw it in New Posts, Maryann.

[Mark McDonnell]

So, I suppose my job as a moderator should have been to…well…moderate the potentially acrimonious 'First Things' thread. Instead, I jumped into it, as is my nature. Sorry about that. I didn't have any instinctive feeling that Aaron shouldn't have started it, and I do understand his motivation to vent some anger. But equally, I'm not sure what good it's done. People may disagree. Maybe Maryann's idea of using Eratosphericals as a place to raise concerns, ideological or otherwise, about journals is a good one, rather than starting a thread with a particular journal's name in the title. And I see she has already done that. Are people happy with that? Or are there other ideas. Like a version of the 'Post Your Good News' thread on GT for example.

Cheers.

[Maryann Corbett]

Mark, my tone in post 2 above may have sounded more critical than I intended. I've been following both the GT and AM threads about First Things, and I notice that both, although passionate, have been mostly respectful and have spent themselves in a reasonable time.

I've seen moderators try to police the boards too strictly--hell, I've been there and done it--and I think your, er, moderate approach is fine. My two cents.

But for those who are concerned that their venting about presses or journals could get them in hot water with the editors, Eratosphericals and the Pub board are good things to have.

[Matt Q]

[cross-posted with Maryann]

My understanding is that the Eratosphericals forum exists for people to discuss venues in relative privacy, in a space only visible to members, where their discussions won't show up in search engines and potentially jeopardise, or make awkward, future or existing submissions to the venues under discussion. (Unless of course the editors are members here!).

On the other hand, if you want to say something publicly about a journal that you've no intention of publishing in, I don't see why you shouldn't post it in General. If you want to alert everyone to its contents, General seems to be the best place to do it. As Max has pointed out, not everyone here sees everything that's posted in Eratosphericals.

There's potential for tension, I guess, if one person is calling out a journal for its ideological position, and another person is sending poems there, but that's not a reason not to have a thread about it, as far as I can see. And if it is, I don't see that this issue disappears if you post the same thread in Eratosphericals, which is open to all members of the forum, after all, even if not all members see it.

[Roger Slater]

If you're not complaining about a journal, but simply reporting on response times or upcoming theme issues and the like, there's no reason to bury it in a subforum most people don't visit.