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OHT - Editing the text

Enoon

Enoon

Rising Star
Senior Member
OG Pioneer
So the basic text is there, but it has not been thoroughly edited yet. Each chapter still needs work. Aside from grammar and spelling, which need to be checked I want the following things to be looked at:


- Text-flow and -feel

- Language as in not too technical language but not written for 5-year olds either

- Facts - did I get all of the straight?

- References - some additional ones would be nice

- Safety - Is it stressed enough? Or too much so people stop caring?

- Information - Am I missing anything important? Any suggestions of stuff to add?

- Order - I'm open to changing the order of things around a bit, if it makes sense.


If you have suggestions to make concerning one or several sections/chapters, please post here. If you are interested in editing an entire section, let me know by pm and give an email I can send you the files to. I have written everythign in OpenOffice, so I hope you can use that as well.

If you decide to edit a section please note the following.
- I do not want judgements about what way to trip is better, what setting is better, what intention is better than another

- I try to refer to all substances as either substances or entheogens. I don't use the term psychedelics very much

- The character of this text is educational.

I'm grateful for any help.
 
I am starting a read and taking notes. Do you prefer descriptive notes for you to consider when making any changes, or quotes of every chapter with changes made, as a suggestion?
 
What about using M$ word (or open office if it lets you do the folllowing) and "tracking changes" in the editing tab, so that edits can be considered/implemented with minimal effort?
 
1) I personally have no access to a windows computer and thus can't use ms word.

2) I'm very frustrated with open office at the moment because once the document size grows over about 20 pages it becomes very unstable and the images keep moving around if I close and re-open the file or add new text. I was trying to put everything together to make one large file but so far no luck.

3) I am trying out LaTeX at the moment and it seems to work, though some layout changes obviously have to be made in this case. Unfortunately this is the only mark-up program I have access to at the moment.

To track changes we could try to set up an SVN or just use diff, I'm still debating with myself.

As for what I prefer, both is fine, really. quotes with changes made by you are probably easier for me to implement, but if you don't know how to change something, but think it should be changed in a certain direction, these kinds of suggestions are also valuable to me. If there are lots of changes it might be best to email me the list rather than post a super long post here. I'll then upload the new version for the community to consider.

Once I get the latex versions of the various sections more or less done I can upload them for you to work directly on them. Does this sound reasonable?
 
Perfect. You can start with chapter 1 and subsections, and I'll repost them with modifications for you to consider. Again, it's about finding the most efficient way to help you out.

So far the text looks good, very few technical details... overall I'd suggest to make some sentences a little shorter and use more punctuation to facilitate reading.
 
Ok, here are the LaTeX files for the first few chapters. I'm using TeX-Live with a few extra packages that you might have to download manually if you'd want to see the end result. However you don't have the pictures, so it won't work anyway...

A4version.tex is the master file in which all the others are included. This file for now does not need any editing.

What does need editing is for example the Set chapter. I tried talking about acute, persistent and latent internal issues (sectin Mind Set) and I feel the text is a bit clumsy, though the message I think gets through. Perhaps someone could take a look at this.

ok... so let's see if I can upload this...
 

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  • OHT_texfiles.zip
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  • A4version.pdf
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yeah, to edit just use tecnixcenter or whatever it's called. it has nice highlighting. I'm assuming you're not very familiar with latex syntax... in which case don't edit the stuff that is highlighted by the editor because those are commands (anything with a backslash is a command).

The text is just normal text, but in order to have a paragraph you have to separate with two times enter (kind of like here online as well).

If you really want to compile the file to see what it would look like in pdf you can change the option for the graphicx package like this: \usepackage[demo]{graphicx}

If you feel too confused about the syntax of latex you can always just copy/paste the text from the pdf and send me a pure text version of your edits. it's still easy to integrate - easier than doing everything myself :)
 
I'll do fine with the .tex files, it's no different from editing html or BB code... the only thing I haven't figured out is the preview, since the default PDF module doesn't work and I have no idea whether the "option for the graphicx package" you mean is somewhere in the editor setup or is a console command :) I'm using Texmaker.

As a test I'm leaving here the review of the Introduction section in a .zip file. Needless to say, it's up to you what to keep or not... Any style suggestions are intended to make the reading as concise and fluent as possible, while keeping the idea intact. But of course reviews of the review are welcome.

So, in order of preference, the Set chapter comes first?
 

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  • Introduction_rev_vodseltex.zip
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to preview the text you have to compile the document. Usually this means typing in a shell something like

pdflatex A4version.tex

then it will either produce a pdf document called A4version.pdf or it will give you a bunch of annyoing error messages. The graphicx option is somewhere in teh A4version.tex document.

But I really don't know how well the preview will work without the images, since the sizes will not be exactly the same and so things will be a bit off. anyway.

thanks so much for the edit. I'll go over it and integrate tomorrow when I get to work on the OHT again.
 
Please check the "what it is" thread in this section for the full PDF of all the five chapters and the revised intro version.

Concerning the editing, I'm wondering if the system I use to explain the substances using the two tables of "signs" and "symptoms" (Chapter 1) is any good or if we should change it to something else, or perhaps simplify it. Any comments and suggestions are welcome.

The same system will be applied in the substance index in the appendix.
 
I'll presume anything posted here to already be edited - e.g. vodsel has covered the Introduction. That way we can work as quickly as possible on the whole project without duplicating each other's work. Or at least in theory. . .

I figure I'll take a stab at section 01-01 Hyperspace next . . .
 
Great. I'm with the Set chapter. I'll try to have it soon... today aya calls, but tomorrow I'll continue.

So far we have done/in progress

- Introduction
- 1.1 Hyperspace
- 2.2 Set

Come on, people, whoever feels experienced and comfortable with revisions, take another and leave notice here!
 
So I jut saw I kind of forgot to add a sentence to one of my earlier posts, which is why Vodsel probably couldn't get the preview to work...

In the A4version.tex you would have to change the line that states:

\usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}

to

\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}

You will get black boxes instead of images then and they won't be exactly the same size as the original images since I only use the width parameter, but at least you will have some sort of preview.

I'm uploading another zip file with all the tex-files in their current status. Included is also a OHT_demo.tex file, which is the same as the A4version.tex but with the line I mentioned above already changed. This means that if you type into your shell

pdflatelx OHT_demo.tex

it should run without any problems, unless you are missing packages. Let me know if you have any more problems.
 

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  • OHT_tex_full.zip
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  • OHT_demo.pdf
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I downloaded and read the essays I contributed and feel the editing is perfect. Your doing an amazing project Enoon. Thank you.
 
Enoon said:
In the A4version.tex you would have to change the line that states:

\usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}

to

\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}

You will get black boxes instead of images then and they won't be exactly the same size as the original images since I only use the width parameter, but at least you will have some sort of preview.
Click to expand...

This seems to be precisely the environment (graphicx) that returned the error when I tried to compile the PDF, so probably it will preview fine now. Thank you :)

And I totally concur with OM. Being very picky one can maybe suggest minor form details, but overall it reads great, and the structure of each part is clear and accurate.

So awesome work indeed.
 
Ok, here I'm leaving the Set chapter with a few minor tweaks around your already great work.

So, what's next?
 

Attachments

  • 02_02_Set_rev_vodsel.zip
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Thanks a lot!

In the order of preference I'd like to go over:

- Exporing Hyperspace
- ResponsibleSafe
- Equipment
- Problem management

If you would like to take a look at any of these I'd be very greatful.

I'm currently only going to edit / correct the chapters that someone has already taken a look at, so I don't get confused with versioning. Once we pass this stage I'll go over everything again on my own and then give the whole thing to someone willing to do a proof-read on it.

At least that's the plan.

EDIT:
If you are editing the LaTeX files themselves it would be helpful for me to track changes if you could comment the parts out that you changed by putting a '%' in front of them. This way I don't have to go back and forth between my old version and the new one.
 
Can anyone looking at the texts give me an update? Which chapters are you working on if any? I have some free time and energy/inspiration to do some editing myself but don't want to work on chapters that currently are being looked at.

I want to get this run of editing done asap so we can get this "out there". I'm tired of people asking the same questions over and over again and not being able to refer them to this manual, which would give them the answers they need.
 
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