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

>Links please! smiley <

Now there's a challenge for the archivists amongst us. If only you'd kept the same account all these years huh?

(yes I did just idly go and have a look, you've only been posting since 2015 apparently )

All the various changes in signing on nonsense (anyone remember Single Signon? I survived that, I seem to remember...) have been the reason (lately) for having more than one account. More than once in the last five years or so I've come to h2g2 after a long layoff, and seen something I wanted to reply to. Once, about, say, fifteen years ago (!), I might have taken the time and made some effort to remember my username/password, or contact the admins to recover my account details, in order that my original "account of reputation" - U114627 - was the one I was posting from.

I stopped caring about that about ten years ago. Nowadays it's simpler and quicker just to signup for another account. If that stops working or I forget the password, another new one is a few clicks away.

I seem to recall some discussions that Hoovooloo was involved in that may have had some anti-breeder voices (and I may have been one of them), but it has been so very long ago that I can't remember much other than just the warm glow of those heated arguments we used to have on this site back then.

Yes, I do miss them now. I truly do. The heated arguments, especially in the Forums, were so much more measured and erudite than the toxic political throwdowns that makes up the bulk of social media and comment sections online these days.

I remember those halcyon days when I was a lurker in some pretty heated arguments . It's true that these days when you see people arguing on, say, facebeook, it's just basically swearing. "You're a ". " off you ing er". Ooh, let's see how they get out of THAT one

Although I seem to remember some things did get pretty personal and unpleasant at times too. Just with a better grasp of language.

Deb

A more erudite form of vitriol?

"I don't remember any anti-child rants (which doesn't mean they didn't happen). Links please! "

Dammit, until recently I had a copy of one such extract of text saved because it made me and was eerily close to my own point of view, but it seems to have been a victim of a digital clearout at some point

That only cements my opinion that stuff which isn't physically or digitally huge should always be kept 'just in case' it's needed one day I tend to only ever clear out stuff I eventually have a use for, but seem to keep a multitude of stuff I never need.

I agree deb. It's probably not an exaggeration to say that the Hootoo of yesteryear was probably the only place on t'web where such (mostly) civilised debate took place over very long (by internet standards), time periods. The standard of debate was mostly high with intelligent researchers who for the most part avoided a decent into name calling squalor. Even the 'Della Wars', though pretty brutal at times, remained entertaining and thought-provoking for others to read, throughout.