World's longest URL?

As part of my increasing involvement in the web side of things here at work I have been spending some of my time recently fixing mistakes and inconsistencies on our website. Unfortunately I work on a Mac and the less than perfect web-based system I need to access to make my corrections only runs properly on a PC.

Rather than running up and down the office between my Mac and the spare PC all day, I have been writing proof marks on a printout of the web page in question and giving this to a friendly PC operator to make the corrections for me. Very high-tech, huh?

As well as the usual typos and lapses in style, one unique element of subbing (or indeed, copy editing) for the web is fixing broken hyperlinks. Whenever I have found a broken link I have been writing the correct URL on the paper proof for the PC operator to tap in for me.

This was working well – until I came across a URL on a certain government website that went on... and on... and on. I copied it into Word and did a quick character count only to find that this web address was a whopping 362 characters long. That's definitely a personal record.

Anyone beat that?

New media: JD is the Champion

I know it says at the top of the blog that I'm a sub-editor (copy editor if you like) on a weekly UK magazine, but that's not strictly true. We've had a restructure recently – which is how Apus managed to engineer his departure – and now I'm a sub editor on two weekly UK magazines (although much more on one than the other).

I am also spending an increasing amount of time working on our 'web publication'. Since the restructure each member of the production desk has been given 'championship' of a particular 'brand', and I am 'Web Champion'. I even have this written in the first paragraph of my job description. With initial caps, no less. And sorry about all the 'inverted commas', but I don't normally use these buzzwordy phrases.

As a result of my increasing involvement with the –ahem– web publication, I can imagine that this blog is going to be addressing new-media-related issues more and more. You may see this as a good or a bad thing, but if it does interest you I would like to recommend the blog Engagement 101. It even uses phrases like "the new journalism tools afforded by the Web 2.0 world"...

One of my duties as Web Champion is to write a daily blog post summarising the events of the day in a particular industry. So that makes me, sort of, a professional blogger. On a part-time basis, at least. Must have been all that practice here on The Engine Room...

Adverts: LEZ

The Engine Room isn't the only site to suffer from inappropriate context-sensitive adverts.

The magazine I work for has a sister website and today our web editor was complaining that, due to its ongoing coverage of the London Low Emission Zone (or LEZ – and I know you know where this is going), it has been displaying adverts for lesbian dating services. Among other things...