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

Now, t o... p u t... t h e ... r e a l ... w o r d s ... i n...

The ones you can be blamed for.

Real words in. Whatcha think? Where are my main spelling and grammatical mistakes? Any parts that just won't do?

contriversy
excelence
'unoficial'

Mostly okay.
Since you can't teach style, you can only learn it, it is much better than many I have seen.
I didn't check the links.
Run it past Jwf (expect some nitpicking) and then toss it to Shazz.
Or tell me when and I will.

I got one or two suggestions.

"the best of these 'unoficial' forums being the AGG/GAG/CAC, and later, the UnderGuide."

What about the Post? I'd rank it among one of the best of the creative writing forums. Why not say "two of these 'unofficial'..."

Also, I think you should use the viewer tag linking to the people's names. I know that CAC did/does this.

And are we going to make entries on the Continuum account that are copies of the original entries (to prevent broken links) as the great jwf suggested?

Oh, and I have one or two more.

problem that all too common --> problem that is all too common
arguement --> argument

I really like this though Your introductions to the stories is brief, but does a very good job explaining them, but not in a dry way. You've balanced length, explanation and not dryness well, I think

Very good.

Whoops, I didn't mean viewer tag, I meant the tag that displays someone's name as it changes. Such as-



Jodan
(working on his issue in this account)

Nit picks for ya.

'there have been some contriversy' - Tonsil already mentioned the misspelling but it should be 'there has been some controversy' or 'there have been some controversies.'

Arguement is the correct UK spelling.

'There have been entries that were resoundingly approved by the Miners at the UnderGuide, that, for various reasons cannot be promoted in this manner.' - '...at the UnderGuide that, for various reasons, cannot be promoted in this manner.'

'... one of the best stories ...' This is picky and probably the best thing to do is ask Nyiss but I'm not sure that 'story' is the right word. To some it has either diminutive or strictly fictional connotations. 'Pieces of writing' or 'narratives' would be more neutral.

'describing her solution to a problem that all too common, and troubling for that frequency' The meaning here is ambiguous and could be taken for a value judgement. also the phrasing 'for that frequency' might be wrong, but not sure.

'This has to be one of the funniest look at the 'wonders of reproduction'' - 'One of the funniest looks' would probably be correct but sounds bad. 'One of the funniest takes on...'?

'I can't possibly stress how good this tale is, read at your own risk' - '...this tale is. Read...'???

There are a few more places where I would cut commas but they read ok so why worry.


Speckly

Arguement?
Noah Webster ruined me for h2g2.

>> Arguement? <<


My first two years here, I spelled (spelt) it that way.
Some sort of 'noblesse oblige'. The mother tongue and all that.
Crikey, I was even spelling jargon in a Brit dialect.
And then I figured I might as well spell it all my way.
No argument from me I said.

~jwf~

I know that some of the best writers can have difficulties with spelling, just as some artists have to create their own brushes and some musicians have to build their own instruments. So the question of spelling and grammar is the biggest opening in the CAC in the wall.

Generally, AggGag/CAC will copy and proof-edit every issue before we pass it to shazz, so no one should worry about their spelchkrms. However, it is probably a good excerise (when time allows) to make some corrective comments on these original pages.

So:
the apostrophe is unnecessary in "its very own page".
And tonsil and Speckly have already made several other suggestions for corrections that I would have made if I'd gotten here sooner.
Nice approach generally.
Nice 'lite' tone, very friendly.
Love the marquee!

~jwf~

I wouldn't worry about recopying the entries at the moment.
All I am concerned about is getting the next issue into Shazz's hands.
Since there seems to be some problems with my assumptions about ML, the next issue should get into her hands a bit earlier than necessary.

Jwf, what were those magic words so you could see the code on an entry?

Hmm. Wait a second. I've got a view feature in my tool bar...
let me see if that works better than the test entry thingie...

Anyway, if everyone is mostly pleased with this prospective issue, then I might tackle it tomorrow and get it cleaned up and ready to go.

No one will be offended if I do a quick and dirty schoolmarm blue pencil, will they?

Nope the view source on the MIE tool bar gives me way too much info.

What was the method for test enty? Please?

(egnever lisnot)- To view the code for a page, replace the 'A' with 'test' in the address bar (or the "U" with "testuserpage"). It's how I got most of the code for this issue (stole the marquee from my own user page! Thought it looked better then the <HR/&gt.

Jodan- I meant to spell argument that way, I just can't spell. Happy to see someone thinks it's right, so I'll leave it alone. However, I can't make the viewer thingy work, all I get is 'Researcher xxxxxxx' instead of a name. Feel free to edit my code, I just copy and paste most of the time anyway (thanks Ben ).

Speckly- Fixed 'em. Where are the other comma's at? I want this to scan well.

If there's anything else, let me know. I'll only be online tonight and tomorrow night to make changes, after that it's up to everyone else.

(Sneaky, working on issue)

Hi all,

Great to see this renaissance of the CACkler dream, .

Regarding this particular (Sneaky) issue, I feel I really ought to say that i fear, in your enthusiasm for the form, you have done 'too much, too soon'.

What i mean is that here you have four very good but four fairly serious and lengthy pieces all together. When I was involved with the AggGag column (and I hold up my hand and admit that that wasn't as much as could be wished, ), I feel we usual tried to have one or two 'feature' pieces, with one or two 'supporting' entries.

I really feel that all four of the selections in this 'issue' are leaders, and could helpfully be distributed over three or four weeks, accompanied by some kind of related but perhaps shorter (or not) and/or lighter (or not) pieces.

Does that make sense? I hope so.

Of course, there is something to be said for coming back with 'éclat' - making a splash and hoping that those who get wet will tell their friends and come back for more... but then when will there be another four entries that are *all* in this league?

just my thoughts
My compliments once again for getting this worthwhile project back on the road

cyaround
spiff
*often has something to say, doesn't always act on his own advice*

Hi, Spliff!

Kiss a duck!

Your input gratefully acknowledged.

Thanks, Stinky.
I knew there was a "test" in there somewhere, but I kept messing up and putting it in the wrong place in the URL, like where the skin type was supposed to be.
All this "backslash" sentence tripe is alien to me.

Hi Spiff Sneaky didn't select these entries for the issue, actually. These are the pieces that the italics rejected, of course, and we wanted to showcase them all at once - and start off with a boom!

That said, Jodan, I have to suggest that Spiff is quite correct.

You guys don't want to blow all your eggs in one go at the basket. Save some for a rainy day.

Every issue should have one major kick-ass feature. The page is then fleshed out with a couple of quick snappers, poems, jokes or one line entries. The 'Underguide' logo and any UGly references can ajoin the featured entry. The rest is just 'CAC'. And these don't have to be UG rejects, just any old thing that gives about ten seconds of joy, puzzlement, laughter, chagrin, whatever.

If too many good articles get lumped into one-big-feast issues, they will get overlooked. That's why I usually go for only three entries. Just take a look at the front pages of the first 42 issues of <./>AggGag-Archives</.> for examples of this balance Spiff was talking about.

Sure is good to see Spiff, one of the Founding Fodders, still alive and kicking. Glad he noticed this and mentioned it. Hope he'll join in more often.


~jwf~

Check out the revisions to the <./>AggGag</.>/CAC-C homepage.

~jwf~

I did, when I noticed eyes from that account were looking at me

jwf, you're the CAC-C boss. I politely suggest that the UG would prefer to be able to point to this as the First Rejects issue, but other than that, there isn't any reason to contradict your experience, jw.