Random Ramblings
Created | Updated Nov 2, 2007
I'm the Urban Spaceman, baby, I've got speed.
I've got everything I need.
Do you know this song from 'The Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band'? It's been in my head for a few days now, and I haven't a clue why. I'm not alone in this, though, as can be seen in the 'Music in Your Head' thread. We even have this brilliant Guide Entry: 'Office Opera' or 'The Singing Defective' Game, taking things a bit further: from 'music in your head' to 'singing out loud'.
Do you sometimes browse the guide? Make use of the IID or have a look through the unedited entries? When just checking that my links work, the IID took me here: Leg Waxing. I don't remember where the RNE1 took me - it was something of about two sentences, written in caps (shudder). Still, it's a fun way of spending a cold, rainy and otherwise dull day! Go ahead, then go and share your findings with the community in the 'May I conduct an experiment?' - thread. If you don't trust your lucky stars, you can specifically search for entries - but what with the conversations? Now that's more difficult, because the search function doesn't work for conversations. It once did, but was disabled to take stress off the servers. However, all is not lost, because there's always the h2g2 community you can ask, and the 'Where's that thread...?' - conversation may come in handy.
Why don't you suggest 'A Motto for Hootoo'? But maybe you're a fan of promoting Christmas as early as September? In that case, this is the place for you: 'x shopping days to Christmas!', demonstrating nicely that while some researchers enjoy the first Federweißer2 and hope for some warm, sunny days in October, others prepare for the dark and cold winter days.
You see, there's a whole range of very interesting things to be found on hootoo - and I've only scratched the surface with my examples. Maybe next time, I'll browse some other forums and see what grabs my attention. I'm not talking of journals here, though, which are a completely different kettle of fish3. Although journals are just as open as any post in a forum, it's not always advisable to give your two pennies' worth, especially not when you're either new to all this or unknown to the journal owner, and sometimes even if you're neither new nor a stranger.
There are some traps you can easily fall into: you can get so carried away with your own ramblings that you literally hijack a journal. On rare occasions the journal owner will tell you off, but more often, other people will just stop posting and unsubscribe from that journal, so you'll be more or less on your own pretty soon. This can even happen when you haven't done anything in the way of hijacking a journal, but just replied to a post. I know that in one place on hootoo there is a journal where new technical features (like diagrams for Edited Entries) are being discussed. I do find this interesting, as I find other journals of this researcher, but I won't post there. Not because they don't know me, but because whenever I posted to one of their journals in the past, I was the last person to post, hence couldn't help feeling that I killed the conversation off.
Mind, I'm not saying that you shouldn't post to forums or journals, after all, communication, the sharing of knowledge and experiences is what this site is all about. In fact, you could start by submitting a Guide Entry to Peer Review or writing an article for the h2g2 Post. And granted, I did exaggerate a bit to get my point through. But my advice is: like in real life, think first before you react. It might save you from embarrassing situations. Now all I have to do is to abide by my own advice.
