And the Answer Is . . . !

Yesterday this question was posed:

Which of the following episode titles is correctly written, as shown at the start of the episode itself?

1. The Lawndale Files
2. Speed Trapped
3. The Road Worrier
4. Dye! Dye! My Darling!
5. That was Then, This is Dumb
6. Aunt Nauseum
7. Through a Lens, Darkly
8. Café Disaffecto

The answer is . . .

. . . none of them are correct. All answers above contain at least one spelling or punctuation error each. The following is how each title actually appears at the start of the corresponding episode. (I checked every one only moments ago.)

1. The Lawndale File (no plural for "File")
   
2. Speedtrapped (one word)
   
3. Road Worrier (no "The")
   
4. Dye! Dye! My Darling (no exclamation mark)
   
5. That Was Then, This is Dumb (capitalized "W" but not, for some reason, capitalized "i" —which is an error!)
   
6. Aunt Nauseam ("-am," not "-um")
   
7. Through A Lens Darkly (no comma, "A" is capitalized though it shouldn't be)
   
8. Cafe Disaffecto (no accent mark)
   

In case you were wondering, the correct as-shown title for episode 201 is: "Arts 'N Crass" (capitalized "N" and one apostrophe coming immediately before it). I was quite surprised that two titles were incorrectly written, but these things happen even in a show about smart people. Alas.

And, yeah, this quiz is very obsessive-compulsive (I don't like calling it "anal"), but that's what editing is all about. It is interesting just how many different ways I have seen these titles written by fans. I've screwed them up, too, so I'm no better. It pays to check the facts, and check them often, even if you are POSITIVE you have it right. I do this all the time (screw up, I mean). Don't do like I do.

FF.net

• The Lawndale Manifesto, by Smileyfax (Part 1): Now, this is one meeting I've never heard of before. MOAR PLZ!!!!

PPMB

• Avenging, by Lorenzo Sauchelli (Part 13): The turtle sniffed the air. "I think we're not in Kansas anymore."
• Falling Into College 63: Broken Star, by Richard Lobinske (Part 4): Daria closed her phone and slipped it back into her pocket. It's going to happen one way or the other, so I'd better make it happen under the best terms I can get and I better do it now.

Making the Most of the Medium

It took me a long time to understand even part of the full range of things you can do on the Internet, and every day brings some new lesson or trick I can try out, mostly with this blog. It is very different from the old days when I worked as an editor for a print magazine.

For one thing, I can fix my mistakes online as fast as I notice them. If I create a blog entry and discover later I've misspelled something, I can go back in and fix it. If I don't like the look of the blog, I fix it. If I want to use a different picture than the one I started with, I fix it. You can't go back and fix a magazine article or a short story in an anthology if you notice you made a mistake. You have to publish an erratum later and look silly to the whole readership.

I credit Kara Wild with getting me to think about putting all my fanfiction online in my own website, which was a godsend for me since I frequently re-edited my stories and sent them back to websites that had already posted the earlier, uncorrected versions. This perfectionist habit drove many website owners nuts. With my own site, however, everyone could link to each story I did and I could make all the changes to them I wanted, and the changes would take effect immediately. Webmasters could thus reduce their bandwidth, and I could also track information on my stories: which stories were most popular, which countries were most interested in reading my stuff, etc. And, best of all, I could work at my own pace toward my own deadlines.

This is such a different medium from paper hard copy, it is hard to believe sometimes. I do miss the old days on the magazine staff, but I confess this is a lot more fun to work with. One of my resolutions for 2008 is to make this blog the most useful and effective resource for Daria fans ever created, as well as one of the most enjoyable, which is a lot to ask for but I hope no one will hold it against me if I try. It could be a hoot. Happy New Year to you and yours.