Re. More embarrassing gaffes

[Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

     This one I can't take any credit for, but it was a doozy. A former
     editorial colleague in the federal government once got called on the
     carpet by her director general for an extremely impolitic essay that
     appeared in a symposium proceedings. It seems that the author, who had
     just retired, had taken the opportunity to deliver a scathing jeremiad
     at everyone who had ever annoyed him during a 35-year research career,
     then topped it off by criticizing the current government's policies in
     rather nasty terms.

     When the DG finally ran down enough for my colleague to get a word in
     edgewise, she softly pointed out that she had never seen the
     publication, let alone the problematic essay; had never sent anything
     to the printer; and had never authorized the proceedings for
     distribution. Subsequent investigation revealed that a program
     manager, recognizing that the editor was swamped, decided to handle
     everything himself rather than risking an extensive delay; not knowing
     anything about editing, he further suggested that contributors provide
     camera-ready copy so no editing or proofreading would be required.
     That sure saved the price of a freelance editor, but...

     To modify an old adage, "you pays your price or you takes your
     chances". (The report in questioned is a hot item... they recalled as
     many copies as they could, but many of us are still trying to get our
     hands on it to see if it's as bad as the editor claimed. Being a true
     pro, she hasn't let any copies loose for general inspection, much to
     our dismay.)

     --Geoff Hart    @8^{)}
     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

     Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of
     our reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.