Random Ramblings
Created | Updated Nov 6, 2008
Remember, remember
The fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
The quote may not be 100% correct, but this is how I remember it from my English class some 30 years ago. It's funny how some things stick for such a long time, yet I am usually hard pressed to remember what I had for dinner the day before.
So, the bonfires are mere ashes and the fireworks exploded, and winter is well and truly on its way in this part of the world.
I'm not really looking forward to months and months of dark, cold and rain, so roll on Spring, when we'll hopefully have an h2g2 Spring London Meet. Unfortunately, the planned Autumn London Meet was cancelled, due to a lack of people signing up. It was not under a lucky star to start with, the date having tied in the voting with a suggested date of one week later. A second round of voting was needed, and it was a close call. Unfortunately, the one Researcher who had cast three votes dropped out (again, I am sorry to say), leaving the attendee list with fewer people than voted for the date. Now we all know that this can always happen, but it made me wonder whether we should accept one person to cast votes for more than him/herself. After all, people who really want to go will find a way to post their vote in the relevant thread if they are hootooers; not forgetting that voting usually is on for several weeks, which should give everybody a fair chance to vote for their preferred date. The other thing I find irritating, is people who vote for every date or bookmark it without an explanation so it looks like a vote. This is not helpful for the one who tallies the votes in the end, plus, bookmarking the thread is of no advantage whatsoever since the system brings you exactly to the post you read last when next you check a thread. If you don't want to 'lose' the site, you can bookmark the A-page - a nice feature we've had for quite a while now. The only thing is, you have to be using the Brunel skin for this.
Anyway, as the last voting was somewhat chaotic, and the result even more so, and as I know that our lovely hootoo president Hypatia plans to celebrate her 60th birthday in London or thereabouts on 6 May, 2009, I wondered whether it wouldn't be a good idea to organise a meet close to that date for all those who come from far away and can't make the middle of the week due to family and/or work commitments. By all means, this should not distract those who can make the Wednesday, but I think it would be nice to see Hypatia again; after all, she'll have come from very far away. It is conveniently close to the tenth birthday of h2g2, too, so all the more reason to go!
What else is currently going on? Quite a few things, actually. There is Alex Ashman's Help Page Update Project, and it has had a good start, but so far, only three Researchers are actively involved in overhauling the Help Pages. I have to admit that I've not yet managed to contribute more than a comment here or there, I just don't seem to find the time inbetween editing and writing for The Post and doing various other things for the Guide. I certainly plan to get more involved, but there are a few things I want to get finished first. In other words: it is up to you to help with this project, so get involved!
Some of you may be aware that the h2g2as Constellation Project is nearing completion. With 88 constellation guide entries and quite a few related ones, this is an absolutely amazing project. You can follow the progress in this thread. Similar to the Help Page Project, this one was mainly done by a few Researchers. I am in awe of all the work they put into it, and the stamina to keep it going. They should get a medal. Again, I would love to have contributed more than the occasional comment, but when I thought about taking the last constellation on, I found that I lacked the knowledge, and although I could have researched the data (in fact, I started to do just that), I didn't understand it. Now we all know that this isn't a good basis on which write a Guide Entry. You might get away with that in Wikipedia, where you could just copy and paste the results of your researches, but in no way is this enough for the Edited Guide. I wouldn't have been able to answer a single question, so I opted out. Once again, my boundless admiration goes to the handful of Researchers who have written all these entries.
If ever you want to write a Guide Entry, or even a series on a special subject you are interested in, but don't think you can do it all alone, there are various ways you can choose: although the Collaborative Writing Workshop no longer exists, you can still collaborate. You can leave a post at Challenge h2g2 (or look through the challenges others have posted), you could have a look at the Flea Market where you will find entries which have been abandoned by their original authors, but which will give you a basis for your entry1, or you could become a 'Field Researcher' and start a University Project. You see, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and the community needs your input. Why don't you start getting involved with something as easy as voting for your favourite Entry of the Month? Browsing the Entries will hopefully give you a taster, and maybe you'll discover exactly the gap in the Guide which you could fill, who knows?
We're swiftly nearing December, the time when great things are once again going on in The Post, like our 9th birthday, and our annual Christmas Competition. To ease you into the mood for competitions, please pop over to our current 42 Word Story Competition. Many people have taken up the gauntlet and submitted fantastic 42 word stories. Please, pick your favourite from the shortlist and cast your vote. You will find the necessary information on that page.
Next time, I plan to get back to some of our lesser known volunteer schemes, but this will depend on what will be 'hot' elsewhere on hootoo at the time - you never know, now that the anagram spook is over, as are Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes Day, people may return to post their thoughts and ideas to Alex's Aims for April... thread to let us know what they want h2g2 to get for its tenth birthday. I may try to follow that thread and give a summary next time - or I may not, it depends. Anyway, enough of my ramblings, what are you waiting for? Go and read, vote, comment, write!
