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

I would say that it's ok to write about individual pubs in the same way that it's ok to write about particular brands of sweets or computer games. You'd have to write it in a way that doesn't pass judgement on the place - you couldn't say a place was dire or brilliant - but you can write neutrally and let the reader make his or her own mind up.

Let take two examples from Torquay:

Hole In the Wall: This is one of Torquay's oldest pubs, and indeed one of its oldest buildings, dating from [xxxx]. Tucked away a few yards up a steep hill from the busy Strand, it's a fairly old-fashioned place, with a hearty commitment to real ales and home-made food. It is well-known to locals and tourists alike, and has an excellent reputation for a friendly welcome.

Bar Med: Envisaged as the hottest weekend venue in Torbay, Bar Med is [now was] not a place for the faint-hearted. Empty in the week but packed at weekends, it's a place for those who prefer their beer slightly too cold but largely overpriced. Karaoke of dubious quality dominates, and the smartly-dressed lavatory attendants spend most of their evenings alerting security to vomiting youths.

got it I think, basically don't say,

Bar X.
This is a scummy dive full of annoying drunk teenagers.'

Bar X.
This somewhat in need of renivation 1950's decoed pub is a lively venue frequented by many fo the younger people living in the blahblah area, catering for their clientel the pub concentrates on selling alco-pops and warm lager... subtle

Yes, exactly

Aside from the issues of the Beeb being seen to favour one or the other, remember that the annoying drunk teenagers would write a very different Entry to you and I. They'd think the dive was a great place, whereas the places we prefer would be full of old farts drinking real ale and listen to old music on the jukebox. So try to write in a way that lets the reader decide which pub they would prefer to go in.

but I am* a drunken teenager!

Alright, I've submitted one. Thanks, all - I've been meaning to give this one a go for ages, but that little chat made me get on with it, and in a way that I'm happy with. I owe you one

What in the world are you doing up??? Do you ever sleep?

There's been a Test Match on in New Zealand, which obviously I had to watch. I also work odd shifts, so I don't start until 2pm tomorrow - hospitality trade, you see. You have to be able to stay up or sleep heavily at a moment's notice

Plus, I had all this writing in my head all of a sudden...

Is this a joke or what? I said exactly the same 2 weeks ago and got slagged off, both on and offline when I happen to mention that the regulars had disappeared from PR to do the aviating/beeblecasting and had made that a priority. I mentioned that the folk in the photo group were doing both the photo work and still working hard in PR and writing. The point being one supplements the other. Seems that's not the case for the aviators. Now here we are, yet again, cries for help for PR and the EG. I said at the time this would happen and people would just say, 'we're crying wolf' and ignore any further pleas for help. You lead by example and frankly theirs been no leadership from the very people who started all this some 3 months ago hence I've no interest anymore. I've got enough stress and grief in RL without banging my head against a brick wall here then being constantly slagged off for stating the bloody obvious.

And yet again, which regulars having 'disappeared from PR because of the AViators are you talking about?

Skankyrich is still the only one who has invested much time in the production of the Beeblecast, and if you had read his post thoroughly, you'd have noted that it was NOT lack of time that he hasn't written much lately, but some sort of 'mental block', and a felt need of approaching entries differently before submitting any more.

Oh, and I think you misunderstood the concept of this group: there is no leader, and no need for one. Everybody who joined the group is free to start a conversation here, to ask about where everybody else stands, or tell what they have committed, and/or to encourage others.
It would be very sad and a bad idea at that indeed if the success of the whole group depended on a single researcher. Everybody is responsible for themselves, there should be no blaming one person (in this case Rich) for a possible failure or even just a slowing down of the project. Apart from that being very easy and lazy, it would be unfair as well.

I have A33336074 nearly ready to go. I found an academic journal article on the subject which I need to read first though, and I'm supposed to be revising at the moment. The historian in me says that there isn't enough history in it, but I tell it to shut up because I couldn't possibly include all of its history, even if it were rather easier to find out about.

One advantage of revision, of course, is that writing a hootoo entry on something is a good way to prove to myself that I know the topic inside out, so hopefully there'll be a few more forthcoming. They'll be historical, but you should all expect that from me by now.

My exams finish at the end of May, and from then I plan to spend my last weeks in York doing all of the stuff I haven't got around to doing yet - which means more entries on historical houses in York. (But at least as its such a tourist city, they'll probably be useful to some people).

I also have a few other ideas up my sleeve, including a big collaborative entry on birthdays, so if any of you want to start thinking about what you'd like to see in that (especially birthdays in non-western cultures), please do.

Well done Elentari and Rich and 2legs for knocking one out last night.

ST you need to relax a little .... I don't think we're anywhere near the crisis there was a few months ago and that's thanks to all the people here and a whole lot of others who aren't.

Rich is entitled to spend his free time how he wishes, and yes I was a little disappointed when he said he'd not write for the EG but just write and submit wherever's appropriate - but that's his perogative.

I think we've all tried as best we can to keep the quantity and quality of our entries up there where they should be but we do all have RL issues to deal with as well .... please don't keep seeing the negative and look for the positive.

There is an enormous queue of entries for subs (we appear to be a bit short of them) and for the FP - we're much healthier than we were 3 months ago .... so PR is a bit slow - it's always been swings and roundabouts in there.

Chill ....

Well said, Fizzy and Bel.

I disagree. Rich should be nailed to a computer and made to generate ALL the content for h2g2 - EG, UG, Post, Beeblecast, conversations, error messages, EVERYTHING.

And for every spelling mistake he makes, we'll take a tooth...


Or would that be an unreasonable suggestion?

I'm thinking ..... only the one .....

Don't look at me, I'm not even here RL is kinda important to most peeople.... H2G2 is jsut a website some of us visit ocasionally afterall I personally can't make any kinda comittment to PR/entrys/anything as I know I'd just fail to meet any comittment I went for but if something comes along, like the willy fish then well it just had to be done AV stuff, aviating and such liek for me at least with what bits I do is the kinda thing I can do at 4 AM when I can't sleep without it taking great efforts of mental concentration and isn't exactly taking the place of writing articles/EG matterial, seeing as how I hardly do any EG stuff anyhow, I'd not have the concentration late at night/early hours to write EG material
But I@m not here

I'm not going to answer ST's post above, because his unjustified personal attacks on me are becoming rather tiresome. Others have already answered him far better than I could anyway, and you all have my gratitude for that.

I will not take the bait, regardless of how deliciously it is presented.

***

'Well done Elentari and Rich and 2legs for knocking one out last night.' Dammit. Did I leave the webcam on again?

I do think, Fizzy, that it's better for me to just write and see where it ends up. The hawthorn entry could easily have become AWW material; I wasn't sure at the start if I'd end up talking about the trees at Dunsford or on the Coast Path, which I love visiting. It would have been a personal journey instead. Should I have written it in the way I have regardless of my inclinations? Maybe. But at the moment, I'm happier just writing

Whatever you are most happy with, Rich.

After all, this is meant to be fun , we don't write guide entries to earn our lives, so we have a right to be happy with our voluntary work here.

OMG Rich ... I didn't mean you to think I was trying to tell you how to write - nothing could be further from the truth. You do more than anyone for all areas of the site and I that.

One of the things about this group when it was set up was the homepage which you wrote stating ... Commit yourself to the Edited Guide.

The Pledge includes .....

........ that doesn't mean you can avoid the Edited Guide. Without it, the site won't exist. We need every member of this site to work as hard for the EG as they are able - or we may not have a site to indulge ourselves on at all.

Now - I know you're committed to the EG, and I know you're committed to the site and you put the hours in to prove it, my disappointment was just that you stated in your previous post ..... The conclusion I'm coming to, I think, is that I should forget about writing for the EG.

I appreciate that you didn't mean you'd stop writing and submitting to the EG and the context shows that - it's just that that was a pretty harsh statement to make from the person who called out to and inspired the group in the first place.


I love the hawthorn entry by the way it's very engaging - but do remember to shut-down the webcam some things don't need AViated.

*person who called out to and inspired the group in the first place.*

which is exactly what I meant by leading by example, not that Rich was the leader, or a leader of this group or any other group and as Bel rightly says, we don't need a 'leader' in that sense. Its also why I put all my effort into the EG both writing and as a scout but seems that counted for nothing. The minute I raised issues I was castigated for it, yet it appears its perfectly ok for others to raise the same issues. Granted I'm no diplomat but what I've said has been nothing but fact. I'm not going to list even more examples, frankly it would be pointless anyway as it seems there are some around here who can see no wrong or see it as just personal attacks, its far from it.


ST.

Of course it counted for something.