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

I'm working on a web site at present (nearly finished), integrated into the website is a forum (hopefully similar) to this one on H2G2.

The forum is for people living in three European towns, to promote understanding and integration between the three countries.

It would be nice to hear what people think are the best and the worst attributes of H2G2, so that I can save time and offer the inhabitants of the three town the opportunity to get to know people from other countries and cultures.

There is the problem of language ... but who know

Thanks

Best bit is the general level of politeness - very few threads descend into the sort of name calling and personal abuse that's common on other websites.

Most people try to use proper English.

Writing Guide Entires is a laudable aim, although it's sadly outmanoevred by Wikipedia on that front.

Thanks Beatrice for your input ... don't work too hard next week!

And the fact that we can mostly do without being moderated

One thing I miss is being able to post photos, but that's a copyright infringement possibility - not to mention a bandwidth problem.

Also, many forums offer truly "personal" messages that others can't lurk about in - though that kind of thing can lead to more flaming, etc.

I believe that Bel has a photo of herself in her personal space ... so I guess you can ... just not here in the tread section!!

I think it *used* to be possible, but no longer is, or something.

Okay but if my photos is in Google Pictures ... I can add a link to it:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-05/12/xin_100501120944295303446.jpg

okay this isn't me (shame!!)

True

I agree with the best bit being that people are generally polite and friendly. I've seen my fill of nastiness elsewhere

Also the wide variety of topics covered and different types of people you meet here

Worst bits - when it shuts down for maintenance and lack of private messaging.

Best - People tend to use proper english

Worst - No edit button for your own posts

Bestist bits; Proper English, the lack of TXT spk. The abscence of swearing. The general friendlyness/community sense (though what gives it this is a whole plethra of differnt aspects of how the site works, how it is organised, the range of people, the history of the site etc). The ham[p]sters. The abundance of badgers and smileys In terms of the 'chat' side of the site, and discussions the layout on H2G2 is better than any other message/forum site I've seen, there isn't the abundance of hardly needed buttons and information and such like next each of the posts in a thread.
It'd be nice if we had some method to upload content to the site (pictures/music etc), but obviously here thats a copyright issue as well as the bandwidth, but mainly as a result of the BBC and its policys, E.G., not duplicating content found elsewhere, etc. But mainly its the free sex and hotdogs.

For me, the text only aspect is one of the best features. I love that there are no pictures, and especially no flashy things!

I like the text only (with selected smilies) because it means we are focussed on writing much more than if there were lots of pictures and, bob forbid, avatars . We have to get to know each other predominantly by what we write, which is a rare and unique things on the interwebs, and an asset for a writers community (which is what this is meant to be ).

Not sure how that will play out given the perceived need to keep up with the modern fads that insist websites have every last latest gadget. I do think video and audio in the EG is a good idea, but I hope that it will be an adjunct to the writing, at least until most people have the technology (i.e. new computers and fast broadband) to make easy use of it. But I hope that the community and convos stay as text only.


Other good things:

This place has a great sense of humour and the ridiculous, and fun. It's that that's often brought me back when I've been jaded about other aspects of the site.


Good moderation. Even though sometimes it's limited or makes mistakes, I still think it's crucial to how this place functions. I can't see how it would work without it.


Lack of advertising!