h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello all. Now the dust has settled on last week's announcement about H2G2's future - see F77636?thread=8018187 for details - we thought we should post to tell you a little more about where things currently stand.

Firstly, we'd like to thank everyone onsite for the way they have handled the news and for your words of support for H2G2 in general and us Editors in particular. It is very much appreciated. There has also been quite a lot of negative reaction to the news, and criticism of the BBC. But that is understandable - passions are running high, and we know how much the site means to so many of you. We would just ask you to keep your conversations civil, which, for the most part, you have been doing, so we also thank you for that.

We can't say much more about the sale at the moment, but wheels are in motion and we promise that we will tell you more when we can. But it is not a process that will happen overnight, so we will need to ask for more of your support and patience over the coming months.

The task of finding a new home for H2G2 is not a situation we can change, so our efforts as Editors now have to be focussed on doing the best we can to keep the site running smoothly and to do our best by you, the community. It is important that those of you that contribute to the site, keep doing so and carry on as normal. It is essential that we do not lose heart, and keep doing what we do best, by writing, posting and doing the tasks that help add to the terrific content that can already be found on H2G2.

As well as the recent announcement, there is also the small matter of working to correct the bugs that have been found on the new H2G2 site. This is a process that is continuing, and that we are committed to. You've also been asking why we have continued with the redesign despite the recent decision about the site. We've said this elsewhere, but we will reiterate this here, that the decision to move H2G2 off bbc.co.uk was made long after we got the green light to redesign and relaunch the site and the work had begun. We have a duty now to complete that work, and having a fully functioning, visually refreshed version of the site is very important in ensuring that H2G2 has a safe, secure and happy future elsewhere, wherever that may be. We will put the redirect from the old site to the new site in once that work is complete, hopefully before the end of February. The old site will be retained for a period on a separate url.

Please keep using and testing the new site - although we should ask you to not to make too many changes to Entries on the new CMS as it is still quite unstable - and alerting us to any bugs at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/feedback/four . We already have a big list that we are working our way through. At some point will have to draw a line in this, and work through what we have, so we pledge now to look at any issues that posted on that Feedback page before the end of Monday 7 February. Obviously if any major issues arise after that, we will do our best to fix them but please make sure you have told us of any problems you have spotted on the new site before then.

If you have any questions please do post them below.

Many thanks
Sam and Chris
The H2G2 Editors

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

yes thank you

but

i still have a question that i dont think i have seen addressed anywhere by you

why have you taken away our choice of how h2g2 looks to us individually
and are we losing certain functions that we are used to?

thanks

cheers for the update and keep up the good work eds! It is appreciated

What Vip said. We're aware that it's our hobby but it's your jobs. So

I think I preferred it when the term was "dispose of" rather than "sale". Not sure I like the sound of "sale". We'll have to sell a LOT of t-shirts! "Dispose of" sounded like we might be able to pick it up by skip-surfing.

Thank again guys for keeping us updated.

Ben

Thanks for the update

Though I'd like to know the answers to fluffykerfuffle's questions too...

>> why have you taken away our choice of how h2g2 looks to us individually

Fluffy, if you go in using http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/U8401460 or http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/U8401460 or
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/U8401460 or even
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/plain/U8401460

you'll land in familar territory.

Beware the apostrophes though!

I can't speak for the rest of you, but I'm still viewing in Goo...

B

what I would like to know is - If barlesque is such an unweildy bahemoth as it seems to be at the moment and there are so many problems with it why the push to get rid of the old site by the end of the month. I know you guys are working to get it all running smoothly but it seems a little like if you sweep all the good stuff we love on the old site under a rug in a locked room we will forget about it and move on,

Fingers crossed and gun loaded - anything I can do to help, Emil me.

Pit

mrs zen... you cite all the nice old skins
i use brunel and love it
i have been using it all thru this
but...
posting one here has this:

"We will put the redirect from the old site to the new site in once that work is complete, hopefully before the end of February. The old site will be retained for a period on a separate url."

the scary phrase is in the last sentence.... 'for a period' meaning the old site will go away someday... and thereby take away the way i see h2g2

Yes many thanks Eds.

Would it be possible for you to let me know who I might write to at the BBC to find out the reasons for his/her choice to axe h2g2 rather than other areas of the BBC? I ask that because h2g2 is head and shoulders above anything else the BBC puts out that I enjoy.

Fine if you don't know though. I'll try to find out some other way.

Effers, stop anklebiting. You are kicking people who are on our side.

In what way? I've thanked the eds, I've made it clear in previous posts that I know they are 100% with us.

I don't get your reasoning.

But I'll drop it here.

Thanks, Eds, but I think your deadline of Monday 7 Feb for reporting bugs may be unreasonable.

1. The treatment of ampersands means that effectively we can't edit anything in the new system. Until we start doing this, we will be unable to identify any other bugs in the editing system.

2. Because the new system does not cope with smileys, rejects about 50% of postings made, and all the links for conversations point to the wrong places, people will not start using the conversation system in earnest until these bugs are fixed, so its unlikely that we can really unearth any further bugs in this part of the system either.

In effect you've handed us a crippled system and told us you only guarantee to fix the bugs we can identify before Monday, without being able to use the system. This is like selling us a car that does nothing when you turn the ignition key, and saying we have to identify all the problems in the engine.

"...the decision to move H2G2 off bbc.co.uk was made long after we got the green light to redesign and relaunch the site and the work had begun. We have a duty now to complete that work, and having a fully functioning, visually refreshed version of the site"

At the risk of being perceived as negative, I think this is a very bad idea indeed.

Surely the *only* silver lining of h2g2 leaving the BBC is that we are no longer obliged to continue with this "upgrade", but rather we can roll back to the fully functioning skin system. It will take less time to implement the new look as a skin, giving us the option of choosing one of the older skins should we choose, than it will to get rid of all the bugs in the new system.

I want to state here that I'm strongly *against* continuing with this "upgrade", and would be wary of any new buyer who insisted on it rather than letting us revamp the site with a new skin.

Its not over until the fat lady sings... or in our case, until nighthoover returns

With the outstanding (in every sense of the word), 'bugs' or 'feature improvement problems' in the new skin, I really can't use it to test any further until they're sorted. Really some of them are such major flaws as to render the new skin unusable; Can't necessarily edit entrys, can't use an apostrophy because of how it appears in the other skins, can't follow conversation threads, and can't post smilies etc... I'll try looking at it again once these are at least fixed.

We've been fighting to get a more modern-looking system for about five years now. Now that we've almost got it, let's not throw it out.

Hi Effers. There is more about the rationale behind the spending review in this blog post by BBC Online Managing Editor Ian Hunter: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/01/delivering_quality_first_on_bb.html

I have 2 questions, (well, 1 is more a request really).

1/ Can someone from the BBC Executive please explain the discrepancy in what we've been told compared to what the BBC Trust have been told and published online?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/january/online_strategy.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/our_work/online_strategy/online_strategy.pdf

Page 5 of the report, (pdf pg) states and I quote

""The BBC Executive's plans would see three of the existing products close (Switch, Blast! And H2G2) and four of them automated (1Xtra, 5 Live, 6 Music and Radio 7). Automation in this context means that the products would remain part of BBC Online within the new structure, but the development and creation of bespoke content for these sites would be scaled back to reflect more closely the content of the accompanying linear service. BBC Online is, by its nature, an evolving service, so further site closures and automations cannot be ruled out in the future.
Products not closed would then be reorganised into a structure consisting of ten products""
End of Quote.

There is no equivication, no ifs, no buts, it is clear for all to see. This report was published on the 24th Jan, same day as the announcements were made by Nick Reynolds. He and others at the BBC said 'the word disposal wasn't the best choice of words', it seems disposal wasn't even mentioned and still isn't mentioned, nor is there any amendment to what the Trust have reported since Jan 24th.

Is this an oversight? Will the BBC Trust post an amendment? Or, is what the BBC Trust say factually correct?

2/ More a request really than a question. Can the Eds or other PTTB please advise the consortium to stop spamming their consortium across virtually every thread on hootoo. They've made their point, they have their own google group. Whats being seen on hootoo now isn't anything to do with saving h2g2, its now about how the consortium want to rip h2g2 apart IF they get it and how THEY would run h2g2 in the mindset of the few not the many.
How can the current volunteers continue to welcome people to hootoo or expect anyone to carry on 'as normal' if all they see is the same old arguements being trailed across all threads on what the consortium concieve as being wrong rather than whats right with hootoo?

If any other individual or business spammed themselves across hootoo in this fashion they would, rightly, be stopped dead in their tracks. The consortium is NO different. Frankly, they've made their point, time for them to stick to their google group and leave hootoo to plod on till final decisions are made one way or the other.

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I'll no doubt get some abuse or flak for saying what I've said at No.2/ but if picking on me means they leave some other poor s*ds alone then fine. I'll only be responding to the Eds anyway.


BMT