The Submissions Freeze Proposal
A Proposal that the Publication Cease Accepting External Submissions
To: The Editor-in-Chief
From: The Senior Cataloguer
Date: 18 September 2014 (refiling of original, September 1996)
Re: Proposal for an Indefinite Pause on External Submissions
Proposal
The undersigned proposes that the publication cease accepting external submissions, effective the first of October 2014. The catalogue shall thereafter be maintained by editorial selection only. Submitters who have provided materials to date may, where appropriate, be acknowledged in the appendix.
Reasoning
The submission queue, as of this writing, contains four hundred and seventeen items awaiting review. Of these, the undersigned estimates that eleven will satisfy the girth criteria. The remaining four hundred and six will be filed without acknowledgment, per Style Guide § IV.5.
The labour required to maintain this ratio exceeds the editorial benefit. The publication's strongest entries have, since 2009, been originated internally. The submission pipeline serves principally as a filing exercise.
The undersigned does not recommend ending external engagement entirely. The publication may continue to receive correspondence; it may continue to publish replies in the Mailbag. What the undersigned proposes is a freeze on the submission-for-entry workflow, which is the labour-intensive component.
Anticipated Objection
The Editor-in-Chief will, in the undersigned's anticipation, decline this proposal on grounds that the submission queue is, in fact, a connection to the readership, and that severing it would constitute a withdrawal. The undersigned respects this argument. The undersigned would, in turn, ask the Editor-in-Chief to review the queue personally for a single week.
Recommendation
Adopt as proposed. The catalogue is improved by selection. The publication is improved by quiet.
Respectfully filed,
The Senior Cataloguer
Editorial Action
FILED. Not adopted at this time. Submitter is welcome to refile in five years.
The proposal raises good points. The publication will not be reducing its engagement with the reading public on the recommendation of one cataloguer, however experienced.
The Editor-in-Chief, 21 September 2014
The proposal has not been refiled.