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

As usual with one of my comments, this falls between categories - either here or under Feedback-Editorial.

While bimbling around h2g2 (or proceeding in an orderly manner through the "NewUsers" list if you prefer), I came across U136816. This researcher seems to have been using their Journal to post potential Guide Entries rather than adding new Articles. They're not bad starting points either. See:
F44874?thread=58842 "Weevil (Boll Weevil)"
F44874?thread=61930 "Caramel"

I confess to a slight vested interest in the subject matter (I was famous/infamous for my impromptu impression of a dead boll weevil during a science class and as for the other one ... ) but I couldn't refer these to the normal Flea Market even if I wanted to work on them (or more likely thought someone else should). So what's to be done? It's also rather sad that this researcher may well have given up posting when they found they couldn't edit or submit their entries. Is there scope for being able to submit Journal entries to the Review system at all?

What you could do is to just copy the content of the journal entry into normal article if you want to work on it. If you just think they deserve to be in the FleaMarket you could maybe create a 'dummy' entry just pointing to them and submit _it_ to the FM.

spelugx

I must admit, when I first read your post I wasn't sure it was a good idea to take someone's journal entries, which are, after all, supposed to be personal...

However, looking at the entries in question, I can't see a problem in this case (Researcher absent since June 2000 and factual journal entries).

Having said that, it's something that would have to be treated with a little respect and tact in the future... someone might not appreciate their personal writings being re-edited...(I'm thinking more along the lines of people using other peoples old journals as the basis for Underguide entries now)

I've spoken to Anna and S'pe;lug:x is right. If you copy the content into a guide entry and work on it there. You should post to the Personal Space saying that you want to to turn them into entries and ask them if they mind. If you get no response after a month or so then you can sunmit them to whatever review forum you like - as long as you credit them.

We're not likely to make journal entries available to submit to flea market, because it's not what they are for.

Be good to see some entries come out of them though SEF.

Hmm... this in a interesting idea... I don't see it helping much for the underguide, even if it was fair to the elvised researcher... but for the EG, i think we can assume they were posted as journal entries by mistake, and can therefore copy them to articles and take them over.

Tango

I've left a "hello" on the personal space, but I've been avoiding contributing to the Edited Guide myself...

Hello,

I'd like to specifically thank the gent who e-mailed me. Being that my Internet access at home is rather like waiting to miss the ground entirely when you're trying at it (impossible most of the time), I used to visit H2G2 at work. However, since business had picked up some two years ago (and hasn't let up a lick since), I had little time to login. I'm afraid this was rather a bit of a lesson for me, to find suddenly that other people were as interested in rats eating caramel and the exponential population growth of weevils as I...

At the time of the weevils article, I was researching cotton crop pests in the US. The caramel idea has been with me for years and I had thought that, since the journal was supposed to be a place to sort of put down your thoughts, it might be nice to put them down for awhile. I had no idea that "awhile" would turn into nearly three years!

I would appreciate with much elation that, since my own words and many years' worth of thoughts went into these articles, those of you discussing it please eschew the usurping of my writings. Weevils was and is still a draft. Caramel was and still is intended to be submitted for official Guide publication, but rules being what they are (I have always found most rules to be confounding), I was unsure how to go about that.

Anyway, much obliged, Mike, for your heads-up. I will make myself more of a presence on the Guide. I have had many revelations these past two years, and there is that little matter about publishing my Caramel work.

Thank you to all of you for your interest.

Sorry for the inconvenience,
Cyberhez (the Random Element)

Well, hello again...

I feel I must make note that I actually had been present at H2G2 at least once since the loss of our beloved DNA. After all, my profile *does* mention May 25 and carrying my towel... Sorry, perhaps I didn't realise that none of you may have heard about that... Some of us DNA fans over here in the States (and probably elsewhere in the world) carried our towels to work with us on the 25th of May, 2001, to commemorate the dearly departed Douglas Adams.

That being said, your regard for tact and respect are well-appreciated, my fellow Guide researcher. I, however, have to stand by your initial feeling that borrowing someone else's journal entries is not in good taste. Being a digital artist and published writer who has had to deal with copyright and trademark laws, I can say that most of us would probably feel that way. While the journal is not actually private, it is still a place to start ideas, and it is just not polite to go running off with other people's ideas. This is why authors guard their manuscripts so heavily and why scientific researchers are so quick to keep their research quiet... and why Industrial Espionage is the concern that it is.

But being a society of respectable people (rather than the sort that goes 'round stealing ideas and engaging in industrial espionage) , the researchers of the Guide were, and I hope will continue to be, good enough to ask journal authors for their permission if someone wants their article or their article's subject matter, and respect the author's decision.

Douglas Adams himself would be proud of the regard for others you have displayed here, not only in discussing the best action to take, but in alerting the author in question to the discussion. Thank you.

And now... back to the dull queue,
CyberHez

Welcome back! I'm glad you found time to come back.

If you don't want people using your entries then that is, of course, your choice, now that you're back. I'll go and make sure that the researcher in question is still subscribed to this thread.

Tango

PS Re. copyright - i think you were probably using copyright as an analogy, but just so you know, when you post something to h2g2 both you and the BBC share the copyright, so you can both do what you like with it. This means that there is not a copyright issue involved in using someones journal entries as the basis for an edited guide entry. Just so you know.

Hello CyberHez / Random Element,

It's good you found time to come back - and to make your feelings known. I certainly didn't intend to "steal" anything from you. I thought it was just a mistake that you'd put your ideas into your journal rather than into articles because other researchers have been known to do this by accident when still figuring out which buttons to press. Normally, unless specifically marked as "not for review", people's h2g2 articles can be "scouted" by other researchers and suggested as worthy of turning into Edited Guide entries. By all means go ahead and carry on working on these ideas by yourself - or not as the case may be.