Editing Principles and Guidelines¶

As community members coming together, we have different backgrounds and experiences, but many of us have had little or less than ideal writing or editing experiences. Traditionally, communication from editors may be minimal, cryptic, or nonexistent.

We strive to communicate, connect, and grow by applying empathy, producing clarity, and building trust.

We aim to approach the writing and editing process objectively and professionally (and passionately, positively!) and stay excited to learn along the way. To this end, we give each other (and ourselves!) constructive feedback in a constructive manner and receive it in that spirit—constructively!

We’re peers learning from peers.

Our writing and editing methodology serves several purposes:

1. Make us better writers. We can learn from the edits made on our work, repeat the good, improve the rest.
2. Make us better editors. Being transparent and sharing the reasoning behind changes we suggest helps us be more systematic, methodical, and communicative.

Help everyone communicate better. Inspired by open source philosophy and practice, we share our tips, methodology, tools, and processes with others.