"Oh, Magoo, you've done it again!"

Remember my post of yesterday, where I droned on and on and on about people who do not, or cannot, interpret the publication data in books?

For all my enthusiasm and helpfulness, I was told, "There's no need to be condescending."

Sigh. There I go again.

There was no malice whatsoever in my TrekBBS post. I'm a teacher-librarian (USA: school librarian) in a primary (USA: elementary) school. I spend many minutes of every working day - as do all teacher-librarians I know - modelling to students how to interpret the parts of a book, and stressing the importance of noting the reliability of a resource (ie. by noting its publication details, etc), and yet many people ask questions about books on the bulletin boards that indicate (to me) that many adults choose not to remember, or never received, the same school experience.

Ok, so the poster knew all about the books, how to check the publication data, etc, but they weren't available to him or her, so by answering the question - I managed to insult the poster. I know all of the poster's back story, and I only added my internal dialogue as I compiled my answer because I thought that was as interesting as the answer itself.

At the risk of seeming to be even further condescending, I suggested that using Google, and some judicious search terms, they'd have had the answer(s) even faster than asking on an online bulletin board. For example, crucible trek publication mccoy just gave me a full page of possible citations. The top entry turned out to be the Simon & Schuster page for "Crucible: McCoy" and the publication date is clearly marked.

Oh well. Was that condescending? (Please don't tell me.)

Onto two other happier topics:

Today is, ironically,

Harmony Day

and I need to go and raid the wardrobe for something orange. We have a full day of harmonious, orange activities planned for the students at school. It's always a wonderful day, with lots of good vibes.

Last night's Webloggers' Meetup was great, as usual. I didn't get much of a chance to circulate, but I really enjoyed chatting to the people who ended up in my proximity, but all too soon it was time to race off for my train. I'm thinking I'd love a different setting to a pub, because it would be great to hear each person introduce themselves and give a pocket biography. There's a lot of talent and energy in the room when these bloggers meet.

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the next event!