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

Entry: Making a Guide Workbook - A3926009
Author: Isle - U866506

Well, I'm trying this entry out here, because the response in Writer's workshop was that it's complete and possibly EG-material, the response in PR was that it's probably not EG-material. If UG rejects it as meeting the EG guidelines, then I'm in limbo... but maybe I'll try it in peer review again and see if I get a second opinion.

Hey, neat!

It sounds like you might like a remark about suitability for AWW?

We like Entries with thought behind them, plus a little novelty in the telling to capture and reward the reader. (We don't like plagiarism, and the landlord sometimes gets unhappy about writing wrongs - sedition, slander, pornography, etc. You know the kind of thing. Or you should, at your age).

The AWW differs from PR in that it's not a clearing house. In PR, your Entry is either going into the EG, through whatever 'improvements' are necessary, or it's going out. In AWW there's no such judgemental presumption. If someone posts here, we presume they want criticism and comment, and try to give it. If they just want a gallery, well, OK, it can join the pile, but we reserve our own (the UG) for the stuff we feel has extraordinary merit.

The rule about no EG-fit material in the UG? That one needs a wiser head that mine to explain, but your note above does point to a Catch 22. Your Entry is written as 'how to', and that's possibly a criterion of EG-acceptability for an Entry of the kind, but that also makes it a little prescriptive. It's not as if you're describing the *only* way to draft an Entry, or to note research. Refining your ideas to create a prime AWW Entry might lead to a more personal opinion piece - thereby clearly excluding the EG.

Myself, I use an A5 Black 'n Red, or something of like size. I nearly always write in pencil. I've even been known to call my own voicemail while driving and dictate the moment's inspiration down the hands-free, but then I'm vain and ridiculous.

A personal suggestion - what I might try if this was mine. You might be interested in making a collaborative Entry, ie a collection of different approaches to the same process of Entry preparation, described by different Researchers. I'm not saying put this in the CWW, mind, not unless you like watching grass grow. Project feedback could possibly be the place to float this, if you're interested. Just a thought. Others here will have ideas too.

So - thanks for Posting this. Your welcome as long as you want to be here.

Pin
(and don't lose heart over EG-possibilities. One opinion in PR that it might not belong doesn't constitute a final judgement!)

I like the idea of a collaborative work... But I do already have an article in CWW and it is a watching-paint-dry experience so far. This doesn't really seem like underguide material, though. Okay, taking it out, maybe I'll re-frame the idea and try again sometime.

"The rule about no EG-fit material in the UG? That one needs a wiser head that mine to explain"

I don't know if I'm wiser than Pinniped, but I did write that rule.
It was intended to keep the UG and EG from competing for border-line entries, really. We knew that there would be entries suitable in quality and content for both the UG and EG, but we weren't about to bite the hand that just fed us Front Page exposure.

My advice is to put this in PR, because I think that it could potentially become an EG entry with a bit of work. Things might get rough, (some people won't like the idea of an entry about h2g2 in the guide, even though there is a precedent for the idea) but it's a solid entry, and if nothing else it'll make some Peer Reviewers re-evaluate their conceptions of EG-material.

hey, this is neat. reminds me of some techniques i have been learning in a social science/anthropology class. i'm getting an idea here: if we could do a dual entry on maintaining notebooks for field studies, we could try and push both entries through together, and see what happens. i'm up for writing the field studies entry, perhaps we can synchronise our efforts...

~ db