A quick note on today’s posting snafu
December 23, 2013
LGBT Legal Cases Marriage equality Marriage Equality Trials
Earlier this afternoon, the EqualityOnTrial team was doing some work on the “back end” of the site, when a draft I had written last night was erroneously published. I had written up two different drafts last night for the news this morning, since we knew that there would either be a grant or a denial of a stay of same-sex marriages in Utah. When the news broke earlier, I was around to post the correct story, noting that Judge Shelby had denied the request to halt marriages. The post went up and we had several updates throughout the day.
At some point something happened on the “back end” of the site, and the other draft, saying that a stay was actually granted in the case, was published, though the district court had taken no such action. As things stand now, there is no stay of same-sex marriages in Utah. Judge Shelby’s order denying a stay has been appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and after the appeals court asked the plaintiffs to respond to the request by 5PM tonight, their opposition brief was filed. As of this writing, the Tenth Circuit has not taken any further action.
I just wanted to clarify that the earlier post was completely by accident and that there hasn’t been a change in the situation since my earlier report that Judge Shelby had denied the stay.
Apologies for the confusion, and thanks to those of you who alerted us to the error!
Happy holidays, everyone
– Scottie, Jacob, and the rest of us at EqualityOnTrial
10 Comments
1.
mikej | December 23, 2013 at 8:33 pm
Scottie, you guys do an amazing job 365 days of the year, and we don't thank you enough for it. Fugeddaboutit. Merry Holidays!
2.
Scottie Thomaston | December 23, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Aw thanks, and Merry Holidays back at you!
3.
Zack12 | December 23, 2013 at 9:43 pm
It happens to the best of us. Happy holidays!
4.
John | December 24, 2013 at 1:21 am
A nice reminder of all the extra work that goes on behind the scenes, which we often don't know about.
5.
FYoung | December 24, 2013 at 3:31 am
Yes, things like that happen.
Here's a simple practice I use that your writers might want to adopt. Whenever I write something for publication where a fact is missing or needs to be checked or wording needs to be approved, I always insert an uppercase standardized keyword like "CHECK" in the draft at every spot where something needs to be checked, added or approved, followed by an upper-case reminder of what needs to be done. It can be any obvious but infrequent word (eg "DRAFT"), so long as it is consistently used by everyone. As each fact is checked off, approved or completed, I remove the "CHECK" at that spot. And, most importantly, before I publish, I routinely do a keyword search for "CHECK." In your case, you could have inserted "CHECK" or "DRAFT" as the first word in the article's headline or file name.
Another practice is to add the date and time (eg 2013.12.23.0600) of the last revision as the first word in the headline or file name, to avoid mixing up various drafts; this avoids confusion and allows you to quickly find the latest draft by sorting files alphabetically. (The "date modified" function in Windows cannot be trusted because Word sometimes updates it when an unchanged document is merely opened or printed).
6.
Mike in Baltimore | December 24, 2013 at 12:28 pm
One additional thing – either delete or move to an almost totally inaccessible place any 'competing' drafts, so NO ONE or NOTHING can accidentally cause it to be published.
When I worked, it was in Contracting. I almost always had multiple versions of any RFQ, RFP, contract, etc., all of them drafts that were subject to change until a final version was cleared by the General Counsel's office. Before sending it to be printed, I placed the final in a separate file on the computer, then printed it. Then I archived all previous versions so I could get them if needed, but other people or things would not be able to easily locate and/or access them.
7.
Chuck in PA | December 24, 2013 at 7:17 am
Don't be too hard on yourself. The web site is fantastic, contributing in no small way to why we are winning the struggle for Marriage Equality. We love what you are doing.
8.
Fr. Bill | December 24, 2013 at 8:53 am
Scottie when you are perfect please email me. I'll come take lessons. Mele Kalikimaka!
9.
MichaelinFlorida | December 24, 2013 at 11:19 am
Thanks for all you do. I read your posts several times a day.
Now, not to be mean, I'm sure Thomas Peters has fallen over in his wheelchair by now with all that has happened between July and now.
10.
weshlovrcm | December 25, 2013 at 2:13 am
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I love EOT!