A Conversation for The Prez: Policy Statement from The Celery

What kind of policy statement is THAT??!!

Post 1

Peregrin

Surely this is just repeating what Jim Lynn is saying? As far as I know, Jim Lynn hasn't stated a preference of candidate, and has not written these words or any others for the presidential campaign.

I fully support the changes too, by the way. Instead of trying to twist the technical team's work to your own campaign's benefitsmiley - winkeye, how about suggesting some changes yourself, to give researchers a reason to vote for you?

*looks around for the next candidate to trip up*


It's good communication!

Post 2

Redbeard (Thanks to all who supported The Celery!))

You see, Peregrin... an essential part of the job of being President is communicating important information to the electorate. The issue of forum structure is extremely important to the residents of h2g2, and they are anxious for up-to-date concrete information.

Until The Celery issued the news release, most researchers would not have had knowledge of this important information from Jim Lynn unless they had happened to read the 159th post in a thread on the Feedback Forum. Now it's been published in the Post, providing much needed visibility to important news, and the electorate knows that these changes are slated, and they also know that The Celery is there to communicate with them and support these efforts.

The Celery never claimed that Jim Lynn was connected with the campaign. Certainly a candidate's interest in important matters in the community should not be limited to those related to campaign supporters!

It's interesting that a team of testers have been working on these changes, and this team includes some of the opposition candidates, yet none of them has been willing to share specifics with the common researchers. They give vague statements about improving h2g2, but act as though the upgrade was some kind of secret to which only the elite are privy.

The Celery deplores that kind of secrecy in government and will work on sharing important and useful information with all researchers and entities.

In keeping with this approach to sharing important information, The Celery also would like to share this post made by Jim Lynn earlier today:

</QUOTE>
The planned upgrade that I discussed earlier has had to be postponed. The Editorial department have asked for a lot of changes to the layout in various places, and this means we have to implement these changes and retest, so it'll be at least another week before we can put these changes live. I thought I'd better mention it here, since I'd said we were aiming to to the upgrade this week.
Sorry. smiley - sadface
</QUOTE>

As a final note, you suggest that The Celery give 'give researchers a reason to vote for [him]' Well, let's see, on the one hand (The Celery), we have the sharing of timely and important information about how h2g2 will work for researchers to make their lives easier, and on the other hand (Peregrin), we have a free plastic iguana.

Tough one. smiley - smiley


It's good communication!

Post 3

Dragonfly. "A poet can survive everything but a misprint"-- Oscar Wilde

I know where I can always get my free plastic iguana-- in a kid's meal at a fast-food joint or from a little dime machine. Both are cheap, and most delightful... for an hour or so. smiley - tongueout

Do I sense some jealousy here!?? The Celery took initiative where his running-mates didn't. Deal with it. And get used to it. He LIVES here.

~Dragonfly


It's good communication!

Post 4

Afgncaap5

Thank you, Dragonfly!

So, what was that about "waiting for 'other' candidates to trip up', Peregrin?
smiley - smiley


It's good communication!

Post 5

Garius Lupus


Pierrot: Aaaawwwwk, Two left talons.


It's good communication!

Post 6

Post Team

May I just say the The Celery's full statement of intent will be published this week in the POST for all to read and think about!
Thank you for your time... please continue now...
shazzPRME smiley - winkeye


It's good communication!

Post 7

Peregrin

Right. smiley - bigeyes

If you're going to split hairs Redbeard (no pun intended), can I ask:

1) Why is the Celery's statement of intent a week or two later than everyone elses?

2) If you're going to announce information about the progress of H2G2, how about getting it right the first time instead of then announcing that it isn't going to happen after all?

3) Why not leave announcements of the development of H2G2 to the H2G2 team? I'm sure there's a reason why they've let only the ACEs and SUBs have access to the information. If they want everyone else to know, I'm sure they'll announce it in their own time.

4) Is that a gravy stain on your shirt front?


It's good communication!

Post 8

Redbeard (Thanks to all who supported The Celery!))

Replying to: Peregrin ACE (Vote for me and get a free curried lamppost); formerly Peregrin ACE (Vote for me and get a free plastic iguana)

Ah, it's curried lampposts you're trading for votes now... mmmm, good. Interesting trick... you merely change your name and eliminate all record that you ever made the promise so you don't have to deliver.

Replies to your questions:

QUESTION: 1) Why is the Celery's statement of intent a week or two later than everyone elses?
REPLY: The Celery joined the campaign later than most of the other candidates, so it makes sense that the statement was printed in the Post later. And there is another candidate whose statement has not yet been printed... Are you suggesting that Baldrick and Fashion Cat are at fault for not having their statement printed in the Post last week? We don't mind that our statement is being printed next week at all. Why should you?

QUESTION: 2) If you're going to announce information about the progress of H2G2, how about getting it right the first time instead of then announcing that it isn't going to happen after all?
REPLY: The information we announced was correct. The timetable was later changed by h2g2 administration. We still believe that the release of the information was timely and of use to the researchers, because it gave them specifics about the changes that still will be happening, only now happening a week or so later.

QUESTION: 3) Why not leave announcements of the development of H2G2 to the H2G2 team? I'm sure there's a reason why they've let only the ACEs and SUBs have access to the information. If they want everyone else to know, I'm sure they'll announce it in their own time.
REPLY: The announcement WAS made by the h2g2 team. Jim Lynn made the announcement on the Feedback Forum. Your assumption that they didn't want the researchers to know is not supported since the posting was made in a public forum. Your further assumption that we should let the h2g2 team spread the word to everyone is a slap in the face to the fine italics who have much more important work to do than stop by every forum and say "Oh, by the way, thought you should know..." There is a community in place to spread the word, and The Celery is part of that community and happy to serve. The ACEs and SUBs that were involved were part of a testing team, not some secretive government agency. The fact that opposition candidates who were part of the testing team remained quiet after Jim Lynn's public post indicates one of the following: 1. They assumed that all researchers would have the time to read every post on the feedback forum; 2. They didn't think it was important; 3. They kind of liked being part of the elite and didn't want to share it with the common folk; 4: They were oblivious to it. None of those options is a good recommendation for being President.

QUESTION: 4) Is that a gravy stain on your shirt front?
REPLY: Yes. And it was good gravy.

Redbeard, Chief Political Operative
Celery/Webjello 2000
http://www.h2g2.com/A383267


It's good communication!

Post 9

Afgncaap5

And the crowd goes wild! Celery survives the (ill-planned) assault! Yay!

Sorry, couldn't resist. smiley - smiley


It's good communication!

Post 10

Demon Drawer

Mind you every other major change to the site has been announced by TPTWVH on the front page whenever it goes live. So surely making such announcements is not a part of the Presidential role?

Nice Gravy Stain by the way. smiley - smiley


It's good communication!

Post 11

Redbeard (Thanks to all who supported The Celery!))

Thanks. I was going to change shirts, but The Celery said it looked fine, so I figured, why not leave it on for a while? smiley - smiley

Certainly, the italics will make the full announcement of the upgrade on the front page when it goes live. That doesn't mean that if they choose to share advance information publicly, we should ignore the fact that the rest of the community may be interested in that information. Making official h2g2 announcements is the role of the h2g2 team. Communicating important matters with constituents IS a Presidential role, one that The Celery, at least, takes seriously.

It amazes me that we have come to a point in society that the very notion of a political leader communicating information openly with constituents so completely baffles The Celery's opponents.


It's good communication!

Post 12

Garius Lupus


Pierrot: Aaaaawwwwk, Touché


It's good communication!

Post 13

Mark Moxon

Without wanting to pour water on the fire, might I point out that, as Editor of h2g2, *I* announce new features (though it's always totally cool for Jim to discuss forthcoming features on site - life wouldn't be fun without the odd leak). And this situation won't change, at least not while I'm in the seat.

There's nothing wrong with people hanging on our every word and then going off shouting 'Look! TPTB have said x, y and z are going to happen. Groovy!', but that's quite different from self-appointed Researchers saying that they should be involved in the process and complaining when they're not.

The point is this: we are still putting the finishing touches to what the forums are actually going to look like (we added functionality today that wasn't around yesterday, for example), so unless something is officially announced on the front page, then it's not the gospel, and we would rather people didn't dress it up as such.

The last thing I need is people saying 'You said you'd do this, but you haven't - and I *hate* you... wah!!!!" If you want the official line, wait for the official line from the official announcements (rather than anything we might let slip in passing). Feel free to speculate, but it's at your own peril if you believe it's the absolute truth.


It's good communication!

Post 14

Redbeard (Thanks to all who supported The Celery!))

Thank you, Mark. It's good to have you back. Hope you had a good break!


I hope you took no offense to our discussion. The arguments made in this thread between myself, Peregrine, DD and others have been in the form of good-natured political hyperbole in conjunction with the Prez race, and were not in any way intended to give the impression of complaining about either the process or participation in the process. We're just having fun slinging happy erudite mud at each other smiley - smiley


Redbeard, Chief Political Operative
Celery/Webjello 2000
http://www.h2g2.com/A383267


It's good communication!

Post 15

Mark Moxon

That's all totally cool then! Take it easy...


It's good communication!

Post 16

Peregrin

One thing that I'm worried about regarding this presidential campaign is that somebody will start taking it seriously...


It's good communication!

Post 17

Dragonfly. "A poet can survive everything but a misprint"-- Oscar Wilde

_Start_ taking it seriously!?? Ooops... smiley - smiley


It's good communication!

Post 18

Redbeard (Thanks to all who supported The Celery!))

I wouldn't worry too much about that. We've got a presidential race whose players so far include a mix of some level-headed characters, some flaky characters, some imaginary characters, a sneaky rat, a strange cockroach, and a fun-loving newspaper editor. (pick your own category)

I think most people see that picture and realize that it's supposed to be fun. And if anyone starts taking it too seriously, there will be plenty of others around to slap them silly smiley - tongueout


It's good communication!

Post 19

Dragonfly. "A poet can survive everything but a misprint"-- Oscar Wilde

Well then... _DON'T_ take it seriously!?? smiley - tongueout


It's good communication!

Post 20

Redbeard (Thanks to all who supported The Celery!))

Exactly.

Oh, by the way, The Celery wanted me to pass on his comment as well...

He said that he is VERY serious about having fun. (his leaves even wiggled a tiny bit when he said it) And he is willing to formally sign a fun pledge if the other candidates are willing.

... Dolores was laughing so hard she almost wobbled off her plate.

Oops. I don't think I was supposed to tell that part.


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