Set in stone/Assignment Zero

"Well," my brother cautioned after explaining his plans, "it's not set in stone."

The idiom caught me. Set in stone. Stone tablets were the "permanent" (and quite hefty) alternative to words on papyrus or paper. Now, the printed page has a connotation of finality when compared to the ease of publishing and editing text that remains on a computer screen.

Will we develop a new phrase, then? Perhaps "put into print" to acknowledge the solidity of one's words?

..

I'm pretty intrigued by the results of my quick scan of Assignment Zero. It reminds me of Wikipedia, but with an emphasis on current events and suggested guidelines for the direction of a piece. The fact that the editors/creators of the site can choose from applicants shows that this compilation is more concerned with demonstrating authority.

If I find a topic on there that I could report intelligently on, I'd like to contribute. I'd never heard the term "crowdsourcing" before, though I had heard about a project where anyone could contribute to shaping a movie. And now the same is being done for a novel? Heck, maybe I'll throw in my two cents. :-) And what about "open source religion?" (I see at the bottom that another contributor has offered stylistic suggestions.) These articles will, at the very least, be educational. I wonder if NeoVox has considered experimenting with this sort of interactive, constantly shifting format. It'd be an interesting forum, and especially effective if all of the contributors were voluntary; that way, the writers would put consideration behind their work rather than tossing up words to meet a minimum requirement.