A Newcomer's view of h2g2
Created | Updated Jun 21, 2003
www.h2g2.com is big... It consists primarily of The Guide, and the community
of regular visitors to the website (known as researchers) surrounding it.
The Guide is in essence a cross between an encyclopedia, travel guide, and
general compendium of human experience. It features an astounding range of
entries, characterised by a mix of information, humour and useful advice.
The Guide is written by the researchers who use the site, and is updated
constantly [or whenever the Guide's editors are at work, at least].
The 40,000+ researcher community consists of interconnected networks of
communities. A friendly atmosphere pervades, with occasional outbreaks of
pedants. Numerous campaigns, alliances, power struggles, and societies fuel
the site's lively discussion forums.
Each researcher is given their own Personal Space; a web page where they can
tell the rest of the community about whatever they want. This personal
space, along with shared pages [e.g. the h2g2 Post] central forums [e.g. Ask the Community] and meeting points
form the hubs of communication.
An informal community hierarchy exists: from ordinary [in the loosest sense
of the word] researchers, to ACEs
[who help newcomers], Sub-editors and permanent staff.
Certain communities and
individuals have higher profiles than others, both in terms of the volume of
links to them and forum discussions. Many researchers have been with h2g2
since the outset of the site [April 1999] and complain about recent changes
to the interface. Many other researches are new and don't know what the
existing researchers are talking about. Many existing researches don't know
what other existing researchers are talking about either.
H2g2 is both a fascinating, amusing distraction and a unique, invaluable
source of information, trivia, and first-hand advice. Long may it continue!
