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Moira Redmond

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To: Posted Friday, Nov. 2, 2001, at 11:55 AM ET

I once heard the CEO of a big company describing how a TV crew had followed him round to shoot a “day in the life” segment. The resulting piece lasted two minutes, and his problem was that he couldn’t think what they had left out. I have the opposite feeling: All this time and space and I haven’t listed my favorite-ever Fray posts or talked about what gets a post pulled, didn’t even mention my son’s epic 3 a.m. nosebleed (very Halloween) or the party we went to, haven’t answered the questions about music and books, didn’t tell my great story about when the clocks change.

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I’d love to have featured more posts, particularly the excellent discussion on rules for Fray reading that starts here with Keith M. Ellis; even though some of it is more serious than I was expecting. I just heard that my rules on choosing Fray posts have been featured in an Australian newspaper; apparently “Second Amendment” had to be translated.

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Ender came up with a complete questionnaire for me, and I’m going to answer it and put it down there in the box. But I’ll pull up one section:

"Q. Have you ever written a caution to posters who are behaving badly … and decided that it was too harsh? If yes, do you still have it, and can we read it?"

A. No, what I think is what you get. There was a famous open letter to a certain poster: I put it in the Fray, and people saved it and re-circulate it from time to time, saying “This is what she’s like when she’s really angry.” I have, however, occasionally written e-mail to other Slate people, saved it in draft, and thrown it away the next day. I hope that will please those who wanted more tough talking and anger.

One more question: How did I get my job? I knew someone at Slate, and he asked if I’d be interested. I’d recently gotten a work permit (I originally came to the United States as an attractively named “trailing spouse” on a non-working visa) and my children were both by then in school, so I said yes because it sounded fun and flexible. (My daughter, when she heard about the job, said, “Oh good, now can I go to daycare like my lucky friends?” No.) I’ve never asked him why he thought of me: I did read Slate a lot, and he knew that I had been a journalist and writer for years. I don’t think anyone knew then the actual requirements for the job:

1) Bossiness
2) Ability to track down the posters
3) Ability to read very fast
4) Superficial knowledge of many subjects (except sport. I’m sorry, it’s my weakness.)
5) Good memory (I like to surprise posters by remembering long-lost posts of theirs; they probably think I do it electronically, but I don’t.)
6) Imperviousness to insults (Most of the time—just occasionally it gets to me.)

******

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Today has been pretty much nonstop: work, still finding problems, everything I do still taking a lot more time than it used to. I had surprising e-mail from a history professor saying Halloween has become much more of an event in the UK since I left there. I took an hour out to volunteer in my daughter’s classroom, more work, visit to the dentist. My children had been picked up from school by a friend (and a thank you in Slate should be enough for anyone, Kristin), and after sitting in her kitchen for a short but welcome recovery period, we had a quick dinner at home and then attended a band concert featuring my daughter the trumpet player.

I keep thinking about the Slate writer who e-mailed me today with his reasons for not participating in the Fray more. He said I should be positive, but my biggest regret about the job is that while I hope I have made the Fray a better place for posters, I don’t think I have made any difference to the writers. To set against that, there are some great Fray moments: the “Seed” Fray with its touching and honest personal accounts of infertility and donor babies; Thrasymachus’ posts after the 9/11 attack—try this one—were among the best dispatches from New York life in the aftermath that I saw anywhere. Then there are the endless great jokes, the smart, passionate discussions, and the extraordinary range of people who choose to post. It’s a cool place with cool people. Mostly.

On the front seat of my deeply non-BMW car (a full tank of gas and the cell phone plugged in and that car doubles in value), the last balloon-grape adrift from the Halloween costume bounces gently on top of the (thick) notebook in which I write the ISP numbers of Fray miscreants. I’m about ready for the weekend.

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From:
To: Posted Friday, Nov. 2, 2001, at 11:55 AM ET

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Moira Redmond is Slate's Fray editor. E-mail her at .

COMMENTS

Answers to Questions:

Ender: First, I noticed you replied to a few posts as Fray Editor. Force of habit but it occurred to me that it might be more appropriate to post as Moira Redmond for the duration of your diary.
MR: So noted, so implemented.

Do you have an all time favorite post?
MR: About ten or 15 of them. I might feature them in Best of the Fray sometime.

Do you ever have a desire to post on topic or join a discussion? Are you restricted from doing that?
MR: Only by my own conscience. I have strong views on almost everything, but think professional ethics require that I bore my friends with the political ones, not foist them on the Fray. (People who disagreed with me might find it hard to trust me.) I do occasionally post on music and books and suchlike subjects, giving my own opinions and getting into discussions. I just posted on Arthur Stock’s dogs.

If you took a better job tomorrow, would you still read the Fray, i.e. become a Frayster? MR: Could there be a better job? I can’t imagine life without the Fray now. I would certainly read. Posting: it might be unfair on whoever took over my job to do that (especially if I kept my fabulous Fray superpowers--double star for my every post etc.)

Name a current Frayster whose style/politics/demeanor/etc. is most similar to you if you were to become a Frayster.
MR: No comment (go on, you’re dying for me to say Amber aren’t you?)

Have you ever experimented, posting anonymously, just to see what it is like from the other side?
MR: No, I would feel obliged to be transparent.

Do you spell check yourself?
MR: yes on Fray Notes and Best of Fray, not on email. Don’t have enormous faith in spellcheck anyway. U.S. spelling still occasionally catches out this Brit.

Have you ever written a caution to posters who are behaving badly, thought twice about it and decided that it was too harsh and opted for a more composed warning? If yes, do you still have it and can we read it?
MR: No, what I think is what you get. There was a famous open letter to a certain poster: I put it in the Fray, and people saved it and re-circulate it from time to time, saying “This is what she’s like when she’s really angry.” I have, however, occasionally written email to other Slate people, saved it in draft, and thrown it away the next day. I hope that will please those who wanted more tough talking and anger

Which Frayster do you feel you know best?
MR: There’s a bunch of star posters that I email with. Not saying more than that.

If Fraysters were the last men on earth, who do you think you would be happiest with?
MR: No comment.

If you had to choose one of us to fill in for you the next time you went on vacation, who would you pick?
MR: Well, there are those (possibly including those who have filled in for me) who would think I should pick someone I dislike (2^nd prize: two weeks as Fray Editor!) so I’d better not say. I will always have a soft spot for Claude Scales for writing his ‘Moira is away’ haiku (and generally for being a great human being).

Do you think if you gave the ghost of a-z a star she will leave Publius alone?
MR: No

Do you think we are too hard on Robert Wright sometimes?
MR: No comment. Or possibly: yes but he doesn’t care.

--Ender and Moira Redmond

(To find or answer these two posts, click here and here )

(11/2

Notes From The Fray Editor:

[Conflict of Interest Declaration: I wrote the diary, I’m choosing the comments.] RonK hit us where it hurts, and we like the Frayster’s diary. We’ll try to find some tough talking for Reader—no-one has ever accused us of being too mild before, it’s very disturbing.

Reader Comments:

100 emails a day, huh? But far fewer Fray posts to read! Things always work out for the best, don't they?

--RonK of Seattle

(To find or answer this post, click here.)

Your explanation that it caused an overload in your email box was mild. I think you’re fooling your diary. Don’t you have any harsher words?

--Reader

(To find or answer this post, click here .)

Eventually there'll be a Frayster's diary up here:

Monday, bored at work, decided to see how my posts from Friday were doing. The exegesis of those Shinto texts wallowed ignored in Chatterbox, but my quip about Renee Zellweger had a checkmark next to it.

I clicked around Ballot Box and the all-but-abandoned Breakfast Table Fray, trying to dig up an interesting thread. Amber was doing something sexual; the ghost of a-z had something on crystalline structures. I jumped over to Frame Game, where Zeitguy had gotten 63 responses to his thoughts on the Carter administration. I thought I might add my own. 30 seconds later, I was on fire.

--BML

(To find or answer this post, click here .)

(10/30)

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