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

The dissolution of the company Field Researchers Ltd puts h2g2 fully in the hands of Not Panicking Ltd. The experiment to have a permanent community part-ownership of the site has failed.

From the outside, it is clear that the ‘big hopes and high-flying plans’ of those Field Researchers were not realised. I’m not going to suggest why that turned out to be the case, but the outgoing FRL team mentioned in their final missive that the day to day running of h2g2 had taken all their time and energy, and that life had moved on.

It’s another milestone on the h2g2 journey, and I hope that this time we may be able to move the project forward, and that everyone gets behind the NPL team. It’s no different to the relationship with the BBC which sustained the project for so long. No-one can deny that Robbie cares deeply about the Project, and will continue to seek those opportunities to advance it to achieve Douglas’s vision.

I’ll look forward to taking part in the consultation exercise in the New Year, and I hope everyone else does too - not just those who write or volunteer, but everyone who uses the site or cares about the project and the community. Anyone can have a good idea. Yours might just save this project.

Golly. All that passed me by like one of Douglas Adams's deadlines. Your post above is the whooshing noise. Must research a bit more.

Good. Found http://h2g2.com/help/A85834173

That wasn't hard.

It's a strange feeling for me, to some extend the structure we came up with was actually my idea. And it didn't work. I'm hopeful for the future with a more conventional structure.

There was nothing wrong with the structure per se...

But that water's been passed under the bridge now.

There's a lot that I don't understand, but I'm not panicking. Was Field Researchers costing us money that we couldn't spare? If so, might the little money we do have go farther?

No, I don't think they weren't costing anyone any money, particularly. Had technology been fully fixed, then there would have been more revenue to fund the plans they had, but that's all in the past now. We will need a new commercial model to suit fresh ambitions.

As a pessimist, I'm always pleasantly surprised h2g2 is still here.

The last few years sure haven't been easy.