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

I'm not injecting the I Ching with Political Correctness. What will you do with the hexagram The Marrying Maiden, the one about bringing a concubine into the house? The Marrying Young Adult?

Even though the words were spoken by our female sage?

Then again, not all inhabitants of h2g2 are even human, so I've now changed it to 'Superior Being'

Venerable One. I see I should not have spoken until the thread had stopped shaking.

Might I suggest the word 'being' on the page where it is seen by all who casually approach, but not worry about political correctness within the pagoda with the visiting scholars and disciples

'If language is incorrect, then what is said is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language is not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.'

*considers carefully* This may seem like a very small nit to pick, but danger comes with decrease in modesty. If we say "Superior Entity" we keep the concept sufficiently down-to-earth to seem attainable to all. "Superior Being", although apparently identical, has a faintly Christian connotation. And, without disrespect to Christianity, I feel that the phrase will be misread as Supreme Being, and no effort will be made to emulate, only to worship.

The I Ching contains everything. Except a specific religion...

Go ahead and pick your nits, Venerable One.
I agree with your assessment of potential connotation and have changed it to 'Entity'.

Well, we made the 5 busiest forums!
Not quite expecting that!

*smugly*
And of the five, three are associated with moi.

I just read over the page a few minutes ago and saw "sooth" being used instead of "soothe". That's my final nit.

See you tomorrow or next day, new server willing.

Sorry, someone mentioned Supreme Being and I thought, I was being paged...

* Thinks 'Vatican & Popes' *

Please, take it from experience, if you want something to run like clockwork, please don't model it on the Vatican...!!!

Uh?...Ah, Yes I was going to mention it should probably be called the 'Lore' of Continuity...

* Thinks 'Maybe they have spent far too much time on H2G2 if one expect it to be 'tamed' by continuity...its positively a challenge' *

- Simply, High Spirited.

I think it was a good idea to change it from 'Being' to 'Entity', Lil.
*mutters: 'figures HE'd show up to check us out... note to self: we've got to get some more disciples guarding the pagoda'*

Ahh, God! Hello! I didn't see you there...
Welcome to the Law of Continuity and the Pagoda of the Sage of Continuity!

We're just putting some of the finishing touches on the trim right now.

Continuity does not tame. Free will exists. Understanding of Continuity provides harmony. Violating Continuity provides chaos. Even God Almighty is subject to the Law of Continuity. Without it, He would lose His power and the lowliest of subjects could turn Him into a toad.

"Among the functions of propriety the most valuable is that it establishes harmony. It is the guiding principle of all things great and small."

But then again, I'm just a disciple.

Excellent article, and interesting discussion, chaps Just wish I had something more to contribute than praise.

I agree with BS. Reading this is fascinating.

Now before we're done, we have to discuss the matter of shunning. I hope everyone has some input.

My initial feeling about it is that it is very very wrong to shun someone implicitly.

Should we shun them EXplicitly?

Well, there has to be a reason, doesn't there? Otherwise it's just a display of malice. In another forum, someone asked what we would do if a horrible monster appeared in our midst, and I suggested that we simply shun its posts -- which would have been fun as we could have included performance art like *Lil continues to ignore existence of monster which has just eaten the aspidistra* and so forth. But it was a play on the very real power of shunning as a weapon both for defense and offense.

We shun threads which make unacceptable demands on the Law of Continuity for the places we attend. We've already agreed that a thread can be shunned in a more formal sense for transgressing the reality of another thread.

But there is also the shunning of a researcher who has been found offensive. Spamming must certainly be a shunnable offense unless the offender is contrite.

If you don't shun explicitly -- which is simply explaining to the offender why he or she or it is about to be shunned -- then you might have the offender standing aggrievedly in the middle of the action screaming "Why don't you answer me?"

Ah, I see. Yes, that makes sense now. I think there needs to be some indication of shunning (and I don't particularly care for the word).

Perhaps the proprietor of the forum could post something like the following.


Due to problems with continuity, researchername's posts have been declared ineffective on this thread and will cease to be noticed. Insight may be gained by visiting the Sage of Continuity at http://www.h2g2.com/A351866

Yes, just so.

The offender ought to be warned first, though. And given an opportunity to amend their conduct. And be informed of the shun decision before a public announcement is made.
Who may effect a shun?
And should a shun be permanent?

Could the offender be sent to Coventry (ostracized, ignored). Second offenders could be put in stocks and have rotten fruit and vegetables thrown at them. Persistent offenders could be beheaded in the Tower of London. I'm sure the Virtual Mayor of London would be up to handling this somewhat indelicate task.

Well, but what can be worse than not being acknowledged? I joined a "role playing thread" here a few months back, but abandoned it after a few days because none of the core group acknowledged me. I'm not the foot-stamping sort, I just understood that I was considered not in with the in crowd. Another friend of mine was more persistent and even muscled in on the role of one of the core group, but I don't know how long he stayed on after me. That was so minor, and yet it rankled some.

And there are adults who become upset if they're not acknowledged within a few posts, even in familiar places!

I'd well rather have my head chopped off than be shunned!

Loony packs his knitting and sets off to the Tower of London to get a good seat at the beheading.

Well, perhaps I exaggerate slightly; I wouldn't rather have my head chopped off if it was a temporary shun.