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

This is an advertisement for my proposed guide entry defining "Design" (http://www.h2g2.com/A349265). Although I would very much like to have it accepted, and be the author of a Real Guide Entry, I would rather like some peer feedback first. It's clear and comprehensible to me, but I wrote it! Please go and have a look, and pass on any comments you have. Thanks.

Hmmm... it's interesting, but somewhat lacking in actual information...

*thinks*

Then again, it's hard to say anything more specific about 'Design', isn't it?

The only thing I can say for sure is that 'when I write it quickly, like that' would be better 'written quickly, like that', to avoid using 'I'. They smiley may have to go, too

26199

Researcher 26199 wrote: "Then again, it's hard to say anything more specific about 'Design', isn't it?"

Yes, it is. I tried to phrase a note to this effect, but gave up when I couldn't express it as clearly as I would like.

Researcher 26199 wrote: "The only thing I can say for sure is that 'when I write it quickly, like that' would be better 'written quickly, like that', to avoid using 'I'. They smiley may have to go, too."

I quite liked the personal touch "I" gave, but I've updated it as you suggest. The smiley has been removed, and re-sited here:

Thanks for the comments,

Pattern-chaser

Good stuff.

I did, however, feel rather uncomfortable about the last paragraph. It uses the term "us", which isn't really any better than "I". I've been trying to come up with an alternative to the first sentence, but so far the best I've been able to manage is "The great thing about design is the collaboration possible within it's unity"... which is definitely too pompous. Something similar to that!

And, you make a reference to a period of time that needs to be changed so that it doesn't date the article - a precise reference to when something happened would be better.

Hi (Sorcerer's?) Apprentice!

Thanks for the comments. I'll update the entry accordingly. The new version should be posted by the time you read this (if you're not too quick!).

Pattern-chaser

hmm.

I'd say you have a choice. Either make it a LOT bigger - the subject of 'design' is just about huge - you might talk about the different methods of design - evolutionary, waterfall, etc - you might talk about great designers, or great designs, you might... (etc)

Or, and I think better, shrink the scope. An entry on software 'patterns' would be great, as would an entry on Pierre Cardin or the iterative design method.

good luck

Hi Lucinda - thanks for the comments.

I decided some time ago to leave Guide Entries well alone. The reaction I got to this submission taught me it isn't worth the trouble. There is just so *very* much to say in response to the comments I've received that I can't bring myself to devote the effort to do it.

Still, you devoted the energy to comment - thank you - the least I can do is respond:

The subject *is* "just about huge", if not bigger! I *could* talk about different methods of design, except that there are as many as there are methods of painting (I mean canvasses, not houses, although I suppose either works) - infinity is a number that springs to mind!

Several commentators have suggested I write about designers. Well, I could, but I have no interest in designers.

[What would you think if you wrote a piece on paint*ING*, and your peers suggested a piece on paint*ERS*, or even PAINT, instead? I think you might be disappointed that they hadn't noticed the *huge* change of subject they'd suggested.]

The personality side of design doesn't appeal to me at all, although we can, of course, learn from great designers and their designs.

Perhaps I'll write an entry on software patterns - that is certainly a strong interest, and part of my daily life. Watch this space (but don't hold your breath).

I know nothing of Pierre Cardin except for his name, and that my pal Janice worked for him briefly, in the 80s, in Paris. Not a lot to base an Entry on!

In summary, my piece was an attempt to *define* Design - huge topic though it is - and to try to give a feel for just how all-affecting design can be. I failed in this aim very badly.

The comments I received said that my chosen topic (not my treatment of it) was completely unsuitable for a Guide Entry, for many many Good Reasons. I disagree, but accept that my view differs significantly from the consensus.

I tried to submit a Jeep. I didn't/don't want to submit a passenger coach, golf buggy, truck, submarine, spacecraft or aeroplane instead.

Thanks again, Lucinda, for stopping by. Please don't take my disappointment personally; hardly any of it is aimed at you.

Pattern-chaser

I've been here myself - responses to my entry on 'Bene Gesserit to the Litany against Fear' suggested extending to an entry on dealing with fear, or on the book Dune or the author Frank Herbert or on litanies in general - all of which were beyond my scope and not of huge interest in me. People felt, I guess, that I'd made the opposite mistake - I'd narrowed the scope too much. After arguing for a bit, I gave in and unsubmitted.

So I do know how you feel, if that's any consolation.

How about this simple change - make the title "A definition of design"? That shows the narrow focus you've set yourself, but doesn't hinder someone else writing an entry on 'methods of design' etc...

The reason I suggested software patterns (my scattergun approach winged one! yippee! ) was that I've heard of them, and often bluff my knowledge of them, saying dumb things like "and naturally the Mediator pattern is appropriate here" without knowing what the heck a pattern actually is. So far nobody's caught me on it, so I suspect this may be the 'paradigm' of the software world...

Anyway, feel free to mark the thread as 'unsubmitted', and someone will come along and move it out of peer review...

However, that would be a terrible shame! I liked the original article - which is why I tried to assist. I'd like to see it get to Edit and hit the Guide. I was also one of those people who suggested the entry by Lucinda on the 'Litany Against Fear' was too narrow - but there was more to it than that than any comments I might have made here. I believe that the entry here, as it stands, deserves further consideration by the Powers That Be with minor editing.

Hi again Lucinda,

Yes, that's how I feel. Just to clarify matters, I was also referring to the reaction that I got from another submission about philosophy, not just this one. I got confused, as happens to senile old fools from time to time.

Good idea - I've renamed the piece "Design, a definition". I left the word "design" at the front, in the hope of making it easier for people doing searches.

I don't know how to mark a thread...

Pattern-chaser

Essentially post to here again with the words:

PLEASE REMOVE THIS THREAD

In the Subject line.

By "mark it unsubmitted" I meant do a posting something like

title: Unsubmit
text: I'd like to unsubmit this.

But you don't want to do this, so ignore me...

Thanks for the kind words and advice, guys, but I think we're labouring under a misapprehension here. This Entry has already been rejected by the ferocious Mr Moxon and his colleagues:

"> Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 13:28 +0100
> From: The h2g2 Editors
> To: [email protected]
> CC:
> Subject: Thanks for submitting your h2g2 Guide Entry for approval.
>
> Dear Steve,
>
> Thank you ever so much for submitting your h2g2 Guide Entry
> entitled "Design" for the approval of the Editors.
>
> Unfortunately it hasn't quite managed to gain the approval of the
> Editorial team, but perhaps the following comments from the Editor
> concerned will help you to understand why.
>
> "This Entry merely defines Design as a concept without going into
> any of the many theories and methodologies that surround the topic.
> To be Accepted, this Entry really needs to be fleshed out with a
> lot more detail."
>
> Don't forget, though, that your Guide Entry will still come
> up in search results and that it is still very much a part
> of the Guide.
>
> And don't be put off from submitting more Entries for our approval:
> in the meantime you might find it useful to read our Submissions
> Guide at http://www.h2g2.com/A53209
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Mark Moxon
> Editor, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Earth Edition"

I did reply, but there was no perceptible response. The H2G2 Editorial Team clearly know what's what, and don't need to consider individual cases on their merits, or even the suitability of their own standards for accepting/rejecting submissions. I wonder if they'd be prepared to pass on some of this certainty to the rest of us. It must be so secure and comfortable, *knowing* you're right...

Pattern-chaser

To offer some light, should you want some, my entry on 'Plastic Storage Containers' was refused with pretty much the same letter in the old system after waiting many weeks - the reason being that the entry contained a couple of outlandish comments about modern conspiracies. I then removed the two offending comments and submitted to Peer Review - and a Scout picked it up within a week. Don't lose heart.

Thanks, Apprentice, but the reason they rejected my submission is not so much a criticism of something that could be changed as an observation (that happens to be true):

"This Entry merely defines Design as a concept without going into
any of the many theories and methodologies that surround the topic."

I've already described in this forum how the Entry is *intended* only to define 'design', not to explore or explain individual design methods (of which there are a near-infinite number).

OK. I've made some changes to the article which I hope will make it more desirable to the Editorial Team. Comments?

Pattern-chaser

Give in!

Seriously - if you don't like the policy, vent your spleen on the editing feedback page, and somebody will explain why the policy is there. Otherwise, accept that you'll need to put in a good deal more content before it has a chance of getting in.

A good question to ask, I find, is "if I was a scout, would I select this for the guide, over all the other great entries in peer review" - scouts only get one submission a month, so they don't like to 'waste' them.

Lucinda wrote "Give in!"

OK.

Pattern-chaser

Mr MyRedDice is a doom-sayer... don't take any notice.

Scouts are having there allotment per month increased and if your article catches someone's eye you have a better chance that before.

Keep at it, PC, don't 'give in'. You have my support...

Just have a look at these two entries on Bungy Jumping...
http://www.h2g2.com/A203978
http://www.h2g2.com/A254927

... and see how they fit together oh so well. You seem to be an expert on the topic, so why not make an entry in the Guide's preferred form (and have it put into the Edited Guide), and set your personal view at its side?