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

First of all, some of this entry's content is surprisingly similar to the Edited Entry A581122 'Manufactured Bands and How to Avoid Them', and is thus perhaps redundant. At the very least there should be a link between these two.

Also, Josie and the Pussycats is not a movie about manufacturing a successful band per se, because they do it with subliminal messages.

Okay, so they did get a very successful band, and they were able to stand up on their own talent at the end of the film, but the Entry suggests it's more of a real-world example, which it isn't.

Or at least, I hope it isn't.

'I have things to sell. They're new. They're *orange*'

The entry you mentioned has only a small section on boybands, and doesn't say the same thing at all as mine does.

And you think people listen to boybands because they *like* them? It's all subliminal messages!

Should one of the writing guidelines be 'Edited Entries should Avoid Contradiction' then?

It's a bit annoying one entry on boybands says that the formula is one thing and that another entry consdiers the formula another thing

I don't know if you copied me. I'm not really that bothered, to be honest: mine is very badly written and I was in the process of revising it anyway. I did find your 'The Members of a Boyband' layout to be... interesting... in its similarity to my 'Anatomy of a Boy Band'. Yours is more comprehensive than mine, but the likeness is still quite striking. You forgot to mention that 'the other one' is most likely to end up crashed out on drugs, though :p

Anyway, I don't care if you copied me or not. The entry's ok.

For a start, I'm quite offended that you would think I'd copy someone's entry (or idea) without giving them credit, or even asking them first. I wasn't aware of any other entries on the subject - isn't that the scout and sub editor's job?

Secondly your ideas about the members of a boyband seem to be very specific - 'the other one' being on drugs, for example... mikey graham didn't end up crashed out on drugs, so it doesn't apply across the board.

First of all, you are a sub ed and have an application to be a scout and no, it's not their 'job'. It's the author's job, and the scouts and sub eds sometimes do it.

Plus, none of the guidelines will apply to everyone. For example, you listed Brian Littrell under the 'Fat One who Writes'. Brian Littrell isn't fat

I also said the fat one who writes the songs doesn't have to be fat, if you read the whole thing...

And I submitted this entry when I hadn't been here long and presumed that either the sub or the scout would check I wasn't repeating anything - I do when subbing...

"It is important to check whether there is an existing Edited Entry on the same subject as the entry you are editing, and if there are any other entries that are better or worth combining with the entry you are subbing. This job is currently done by the Scouts, but it's good to double check. If there is an existing Edited Entry and the new one is better, try to combine them."

Then why wasn't it the 'One Who Writes Songs?'

Frankly, I'm surprised this went through PR when there's another entry in.

And it's generally the author's responsibility, definitely not the sub editor's. If the sub has it, it's already been scouted and accepted into the guide

But you weren't subbing this.

Because they're always called 'The Fat One Who Writes The Songs', ever since Gary Barlow. I did say that too...

And according to the above quote, taken from 'What Sub Editors Do', it seems to me that scouts and subs should check too.

Lookit- I think it's the author's responsibility. If the author doesn't do it, the the scout should check, and if the scout doesn't, the sub should.

Yes, the scouts and sub eds should check as well, but the author should be the one to check first.

*sigh*

I didn't say you'd copied me; I said I didn't care if you had or not. I know you probably didn't, but I never make assumptions; I don't know you and you *might* have copied me. I don't think you did, though. I wouldn't have even been here if MaW hadn't emailed me saying, "you might want to look at this, it's similar to something you wrote."

Anyway, your entry is much better than mine; mine was written entirely in humour and shouldn't be considered seriously. I actually want it to be removed - if it does come down to one of the entries being erased, I want to make it clear now: ERASE MINE, PLEASE.

Hope that clears some things up.

Personally, I think the two are different enough to stay... but I may be a weenie bit biased! Yours doesn't include much about how to make a band, so I think it's okay... can we get the nice eds to put a link in each to the other one though?

I would also like to point out that I was not intending to make any accusations of plagiarism or anything else. What struck me most was the overlap between the two Entries in terms of subject area.

I understand, I know nobody was meaning to say I'd plagirised anything, I think I was in a bit of a bad mood anyhoo earlier on! Gotta go now tho, my room is freezing and I can't feel my fingers... do you think my mum'll make me hot chocolate?

*realises that she wants hot chocolate in the middle of 'summer' and wonders what the world is coming to...*

I think these two entries, although they have their similarities, are distinct enough to stand on their own. The depression entries in the Edited Guide are similar to this - all of them cover the same ground but they are twists on a theme.

I'm not saying that I want to see forty entries about boybands though ...

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