When I first started reading the Straight Dope, there was a staff report at least once per week. Recently, there haven’t been any. It’s not that I don’t like Cecil, but I do like the staff reports. They tend to be longer, more detailed, and well researched.
I’m happy to see we’ve had two staff reports in the last two weeks, but I wonder why they tend to be so rare.
I understand that there’s a backlog for editing them, but that’s fortunately now being addressed, and more should appear soon.
Yes, there was a problem with the editing process (mainly, overworked and underpaid READER staff). Cecil’s column is revenue-producing, and Staff Reports ain’t, so the priorities were set accordingly.
We recently implemented a new editing process (with a few moderators handling the editing as a committee) and we’ve managed to get the Staff Reports rolling again.