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

Right, this happened about 3½ hours ago. I'll try to describe it step by step. Oh, and the reason I use the plain skin is because it uses the Windows colour scheme, which makes h2g2 less conspicuous on my work computer.

1) In my IE 5.50 I opened this page to check if my other self had received any responses to her ACE welcome messages:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/plain/MP151707

2) I clicked on the 'sign in' link, which loaded the log on page in the Brunel skin, like it always does.

3) I logged on as the Post Team U54963 to do some last minute Post stuff.

4) a. What usually happens next is that the Post Team user page opens in the plain skin. The preferences are set to Brunel, but if I log in from a page in plain skin, the user page opens in plain. Trust me on this, as I've done it hundreds of times, OK?

4) b. Instead, the Post Team user page opened in some kind of 'The Archers' skin, a skin I've never ever seen before. While still logged on, I tried loading various h2g2 pages, including my own user page U135628, but they all opened in 'The Archers' skin.

I made a print screen of it in order to prove that I wasn't simply imagining things, and also to show that I *was* indeed using the plain skin and I *was* viewing the page on h2g2 and not some other DNA site:

http://hem.fyristorg.com/Titania/archers.bmp

Anyone got any explanation for this? Is Jim Lynn secretly a big fan of The Archers?

Traveller in Time knowing the 'default skin' is Alabaster
"Well ,i have seen it once a few days ago, on using a bad URL.

And it looks like the Archers site indeed. Last what I have seen is the Userpages where blocked, this has not changed !

This is getting stranger and stranger, are you sure your system is not beeing hacked and taken over by trolls ?"

So there does exist a 'The Archers' site?

If I had visited that site, that might explain it - but I didn't, never have, never saw the skin before, don't even know the URL. Every single page I was loading was a h2g2 page and the first page I loaded when opening my browser was indeed the MP151707 one.

As for trolls or gremlins or what-have-you - no, I don't think so, as the fire wall used by the company I work for is functiong fairly well (we never had any company page hacked as far as I know).

That's not the Archers skin... That's _still_ the plain skin, but someone who logs onto the site via the PostTeam account has changed its preferences...

If you log on to the account and go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/plain/UserDetails

You'll see, that the last choice is 'stylesheet' - it'll have a web address in the box...

The plain skin lets you set up your own stylesheet (colours, fonts etc.) and what you're seeing is a stylesheet set up by Peet (U38364) months ago to get users of the Archers MB used to DNA...

Just remove the URL from that box and it'll go back to normal...

(Then find out which of the post staff changed it and slap their wrists )

Ah - of course! Thanks Whisky!

I think that might have been me, testing it out when Peet mentioned it.

**looks over his glasses sternly at EMR***


You naughty little person you...

Now, for your punishment... You will now write out "I must not confuse Titania, she's already confused enough" one hundred times

Morning sweetheart

What?
Don't you love me anymore?

***goes and sits in the corner of the thread, with thumb in mouth, sulking***

A wasn't good enough for you? How about a _-= then?

-=.........

Thanks, I was feeling a little peckish!

It's magic! Your magically transformed itself into a in mid air!