Fun fact: If you ever peruse our archives, you’ll notice that it’s a time-honored tradition for the first “Editor’s Corner” of an editor in chief’s term to be the least creative thing he or she ever does. It’ll begin with the new editor waxing poetic about the start of winter and impending doom of finals, followed by a not-so-subtle segue into soliciting feedback and a plea for the reader to join the staff. These pieces use many of the same phrases and are all but indistinguishable from one another. I would like to say that I have something more exciting lined up for mine, but, unfortunately, they follow the same format for a good reason. (Oh yeah, another thing: new editors will remark on the traditional format and why they’re unwilling to depart from it. Things never change.)
I’m skipping the talk about the thrill of the first snow and ever-increasing fear of exams, but I’d like to echo my predecessors and beg you for some feedback. I’ve heard a variety of disparaging comments about The Poly in my time here, but they’re usually vague (“The Poly sucks” is not helpful.) I’m fine with criticism, but I need to know exactly what someone dislikes to work on fixing it. Think the paper’s ugly? Find our news stories to be far from new by Wednesday afternoon? Want to see different events covered in Features or Sports? Don’t hesitate to send an e-mail to poly@rpi.edu or the appropriate section. One thing I’ve heard repeatedly is that the news section failed to cover something that happened or to offer any information not available in the press release. Since we have a larger and very talented news team taking over, I hope you’ll be seeing less of that; however, don’t hesitate to send leads or comments to news@poly.rpi.edu.
For those of you who are following along, you’ve made it to the “join The Poly!” part of the editorial. Our paper is perpetually understaffed, so we could always use the help. And, joining The Poly is not just for writers. In fact, we have a number of areas outside of writing in which we’d love some help.
For instance, The Poly is not just a newspaper but a student-run business. If you’re a student interested in going into business, you could gain valuable experience helping our business or advertising department. We could use people to sell ads and help our new business editor with her tasks, such as sending out invoices and managing our large (around $70,000) budget. If you’re interested, send an e-mail to business@poly.rpi.edu.
We also have a systems department responsible for, well, our computer system. It’s been run by the same guy—the wonderful graduate student Dave Brigada—for several years now, but he’ll have to graduate eventually. Plus, he’s married, so I’m sure he has better things to do with his time and would love to have some help. If you’re interested in computers, and especially if you’re familiar with Unix, you should consider helping us out. E-mail systems@poly.rpi.edu for more info.
And, of course, if you’re interested in the more typical aspects of the paper, such as writing, layout, editing, and photography, we’d love help in those areas too! Interested individuals can send e-mails to poly@rpi.edu.