The EDline mailing list was started in September 1996 by the Society
of Freelance Editors and Proofreaders as a
discussion forum for people working in an editorial capacity within the UK
publishing
industry.
Since its first publication, EDline has grown in popularity. It has now reached the point where it was felt that the list should be opened up to everyone involved in the preparation of the written word for publication, including editors, proofreaders, indexers, translators, writers and typesetters.
Please note: the views expressed in EDline are strictly those of the individual contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the moderators or the Electric Editors.
What is EDline?
EDline provides the opportunity for online discussion of matters editorial and editorial business, and to provide prompt answers to vexing questions. At some stage everyone working with words has a question to which they cannot readily find the answer; EDline is the forum for posing that question.
EDline is e-mailed out weekly on a Sunday in digest format. A supplementary mailing, should one be required to provide answers to pressing questions or if the messages become too voluminous, is mailed on a Wednesday.
The EDline mailing list is open only to members of the Electric Editors,
so you won't be troubled by any junk emails. The list is
moderated, so you can be sure that none of the Internet's notorious
'flame wars' will break out.
Subscriptions
It costs nothing to subscribe to EDline, or to either of the other two Electric Editors' mailing lists, Grapevine and LANGline.
For more information on how to join the Electric Editors and to subscribe to any or all mailing lists, please see the Mailing list Web page.
We would like to stress that EDline, like the Electric Editors, is
free: no money, no passwords,
just useful information from professional editors around the
globe.
Posting messages to
EDline
All messages to be posted to the list should be sent to:
with the subject line "EDline [topic]", where [topic] is the subject under discussion. Topics might include areas such as Grammar, Spelling, American English or Punctuation.
Messages should be pertinent to the basic premise of the list; they may be withheld, or redirected if more pertinent to one of the other mailing lists.
The spelling and grammar of messages will not be corrected, but some editing of length may be undertaken.
Quoting from previous messages: quote as much as you need to make the
context of your reply clear, but no more.
Administration
All messages of a subscription or administrative nature should be
directed to the Electric Editors' e-mail address:
with the subject line "EDline ADMIN".
Resources
A full list of links that have appeared in the "Bookmarks" section of EDline are available from the Electric Editors' Resources Pages.
The Electric Editors' Resources Pages are updated with new URLs on a
regular basis.
Back issues
All back issues of EDline are available from the Electric Editors' Archives.
Please note that back issues of EDline as published by the Society of Freelance Editors and Proofreaders are only available to members of the Society.
We are sure you will find EDline most useful.