Usertypes in use in Fedora Magazine

WordPress has many usertypes built in, but for the Fedora Magazine we use 4
different types of users: Subscriber, Author, Editor & Administrator. There is
another built-in user type that we don’t use — Contributor.

Subscriber

This is the generic usertype that gets granted when the user logs into the
magazine using their FAS account. It provides no more access to wordpress other
than being able to comment on posts with their account.

Author

The Author permission is granted by an editor or administrator, and allows a
writer to draft up posts, and submit them for review by an editor. An author
does not have the permissions to publish posts, or edit already published posts.

Editor

The Editor permission is granted by an administrator, and provides the abilities
of the Author permission, but also allows the editor to Publish posts live, and
edit already published posts.

Administrator

The Administrator permission is the highest level of permissions in the Magazine,
and allows access to all aspects of the wordpress instance, including layout and
plugin setup. Ideally there are only a few people (but more than one) with this
permission, to ensure continued Magazine quality and oversight.

Writing workflow

Pitch -> Draft -> Pending -> Published

Pitch

To propose or “pitch” a post, create a new post in the Fedora Magazine wordpress instance. The default post status is “Pitch”. Your pitch is a 2-4 sentence brief outline of the central idea or goal of the story and what the reader will learn. Editors will critique your idea and, once agreed, approve it for a draft. The discussion on the pitch will happen in the “Editorial Comments” section in the edit page of the post in WordPress.

Draft

Once the editor has approved the idea for the post, you can change it to the Draft status in the wordpress interface, and start writing your article proper.

Use short sentences, avoid jargon, and keep the reader and your central goal in mind. Use hyperlinks liberally and meaningfully. The Magazine includes an SEO plugin. Use it to check and modify your draft, before you submit for review, so the post ranks well in search engines. Remember to save your work. Once you are happy with your draft, mark it as Pending Review. Notify the list your article is ready for review.

Pending

An Editor will check the pending draft, including for spelling, grammar, style, and SEO scoring. Once the draft is ready, the Editor will publish the post.

Published

If a correction is needed in an article, any Editor or Administrator can correct the article and update the post. If the correction is more substantial than simple spelling or punctuation fixes, it’s usually appropriate to note the change at the bottom of the article (e.g. “EDITED: Corrected the update instructions”).