The Friday Fix: Pasting External Text and More
Posted Feb 12th 2010 at 12:00PM
by Kristi Anderson (subscribe to Kristi Anderson's posts)
Filed Under: Process
The Friday Fix highlights tips, tricks and hacks for using the Seed platform. Have questions or want to see us cover a new tip? Drop us a line in the comments section.
For those of you still getting used to the Seed platform, it's understandable there's a comfort level in composing your article in a different text editor and pasting it in. However, when you do so (especially when pasting from Word), your text carries with it hidden formatting that can create odd looking characters once your work is submitted. This results in additional editing time for our Seed editors.
You can help streamline the process by:
For those of you still getting used to the Seed platform, it's understandable there's a comfort level in composing your article in a different text editor and pasting it in. However, when you do so (especially when pasting from Word), your text carries with it hidden formatting that can create odd looking characters once your work is submitted. This results in additional editing time for our Seed editors.
You can help streamline the process by:
1) Using text paste buttons. When you are ready to copy in your text, instead of using a simple paste command, place your cursor in the text editing window (where you write your article) and click the Paste from Word or Paste as Plain Text editing buttons to import your text without the hidden formatting.
2) Composing your article in Seed. Seed is an intuitive, easy-to-use platform that mirrors most word processing programs. To safeguard against losing your work, follow the time-tested mantra: save early and save often! We also encourage you to copy your work to an outside word processing program and save it to your computer files, so that you retain a permanent record of it.
PLUS ... NO MORE LOST CLAIMS!
Some of you have noticed that when you claim and assignment and then pull the claim -- either by choice or by accident -- it disappears from your Recommended Assignments queue. No longer!
Our terrific development team (hi, guys!) has fixed this so that when this happens, the assignment returns to the listing. So, if you change your mind and want to re-claim the assignment, you're able to do so.
And while we have you, you'll notice that the page view graph on your Dashboard has temporarily been removed. Not to worry. Our developers are making some adjustments and it will return soon.
Have a great weekend!
Reader Comments
(page 1 of 1)Hello! I claimed an article today that said "3 days remaining". I worked all day on it, and when I went to paste my text and submit the page said "Closed" and "This assignment is past the deadline. It can no longer be submitted." Can you explain what happened and elaborate on the process of claiming and submitting as well as due dates. Thanks!
Rebecca, it looks like this is happening to at least a few of us. You can try contacting Seed directly to see if there is any way you can still submit your article by the original deadline. Maybe it's a glitch that they will be able to correct.
This happened to me as well on 4 assignments. When I logged in in the morning to confirm time remaining I had 6 days, when I logged in in the evening they were closed stating they were past deadline. I did contact Seed and they were very helpful. If you haven't contacted them already I highly recommend it.
It seems like Seed is really making some changes that will help writers improve on how material is delivered. A writer never wants to lose material, and to ensure that I don't I prefer to write out my material using my G-2 pen. That way I can really get into the moment and create something I'm proud of. Page views may be broke, but I know what time it is somebody got me on watch even if my articles have not earned me any ends. I got this.
Hi Kristi,
This problem may be related to pasting and the "lost claims" problem. I went to enter text on a claim; the title is still on my dashboard, but the spot next to the title that usually says how many days remaining is blank. There should be 6 days left. Why is this space blank? The page to paste my text still comes up. Did someone else fill the assignment? And how can we know when that happens without putting all our work into an article? Thanks.
Your comments are valid and well taken except for one thing. There are functions, such as a thesaurus, which are not available in the seed editor. Does seed have any future plans to expand their somewhat limited text editor. And oh yeah, I have experienced the closed issue on a article that had time remaining but not yet reached maturity. In the one instance, there was at least 10 days left before the claim closed (I had claimed it and started the article on seed) and it simply closed. Not complaining but would appreciate clarification.
Does anyone know where I can find information about claims that have no word count? I claimed an article that offered just one sentence and no website reference and no desired word count. I'm thinking 400 words will suffice since its a $20 claim. I wish I knew where to go for information like this! Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
Somewhat disappointed. I have been waiting a while for another serious political theme to write about (I am sorry, but "Hottest Female Politician" does not count). Finally when such a subject does appear in the "Haiti" request, it is locked for a writer at Spin Magazine! Very discouraging for those of use that are trying to get our material out there.
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