The Post's Top Nine Moments
Created | Updated Aug 5, 2009
Well then, The Post is Nine! Who can believe it? This venerable hootoo institution's clocked up nearly a decade – which is an amazing achievement, especially considering how fast things move online.
Anyway, to mark this momentous occasion, a couple of Post contributors are going to share their Top 9 favourite Post moments. So here we go, in no particular order:
Psycorp 603's Top Nine Post Moments
1: Favourite Post Poem
Dear Psycorp by Doctor Anthea
This poem might bear my name, but it was written in response to a challenge, not to sing my praises. I'd foolishly pointed out that none of Anth's previous poems had rhymed, and as such weren't really poetry. Oops. Sixteen rhyming couplets later, Anthea's poetic prowess had well and truly been proven.
2: Favourite (Current) Regular Post Column
Random Ramblings by B'Elana
If Lil's the mad aunt of hootoo that you're always slightly apprehensive about bumping into in case she's gotten into the spirits cupboard again, B'El is the reassuringly sane auntie, ready to dispense some wise words. You can count on Random Ramblings to impart some little nugget of information, advice or observation that makes you nod your head and wonder why you'd not thought of that.
3: Favourite Post Contributor
Awix – Adventures in Cinema, 24LAS, Meet Mr Inquisitor
Awix has been so prolific for The Post that he's got his own Post Archive. What more can you say? Oh, you want more? Ok. I can't think of a bad installment of 24LAS, even when I've not agreed with the film review, I got a disciplinary when I worked in a call centre as I spent a whole shift reading Adventures in Cinema, and I loved MMI that much that I stole it.
4: Favourite Post Editor
Shazz
Sorry Rich, sorry EMR, and sorry anyone I can't remember, but for me Shazz is the definitive Post Editor, against whom all other Editors shall be judged. Well, not judged exactly – I was continually amazed by EMR's insights and work rate, and our current Editor would definitely make the list of my top ten favourite hootooers. But Shazz was my first Editor, and she gave me free rein to write some truly terrible things – like an intro to a travelogue column I never got round to writing. Shazz, I salute you!
5: Favourite Personal Post Submission
Meet Mr Inquisitor (Redux) – Loup d'Argent
This is my favourite submission simply because of Loup. I absolutely loved doing this interview, and Loup was a joy to chat to. I just hope anyone reading the column enjoys that insight into Monsieur d'Argent's life just as much as I did.
6: Favourite Post Cartoon
Keeping in Shapes by Deus ex Machina
I'm not much of a webcomics person. I prefer my online comedy to be written, not drawn. However, for this surreal masterpiece by Deus ex Machina, I'll make an exception. It's absolutely genius, and it's just a shame that the strip only ran to five episodes.
7: Favourite Post Feature
World History – The Budget Edition by Dmitrigheorgheni
I know it's only a few weeks old, but I honestly can't remember a feature I enjoyed as much as this offering. Whether that's due to my own background of studying history, or the fantastic quality of the writing in this feature, I definitely wanted to give those of you who missed it first time out a chance to read it again.
8: Favourite Post Issues
This is an incredibly difficult one, not least because The Post's generally of a uniformly high quality. However, I'd like to suggest any issues from the Summer of 2004. Back then, half the regular contributors were on my friends list – good writers like HPB, Awix, Mu Beta and slightly less good writers like Asmodai Dark and my Awix rip-off column. Ahh, those were the days…
9: Favourite (Past) Regular Column
Sporting With Egon by Egon and Several AKA Random
I loved Sporting With Egon, I really did. I loved it even more after it had gone, because Mu Beta's replacement never quite lived up to its predecessor. What I loved most about SWE though, was the AmSports roundup from Several AKA Random. His enthusiasm for strange games that I knew little about never failed to bring a smile to my face. Reading through the archives for this column, I've learned that they still do. So thanks Several AKA Random – you were a damn good writer, and you're still missed.
Skankyrich's Top Nine Post Moments
1: Favourite Post Poem
Kat's Quitting Smoking. I was trying to give up at the time, and on the one occasion I met her she attacked me with her walking sticks for lighting up. She wrote the poem partly to publicise a mad idea I had at the time.
2: Favourite Regular Column
There are so many good ones at the moment that it's difficult to choose, but one does stand out. The one that has a really special place for me is Websailor's Wacky Wildlife World – when I first took over the Regulars, I asked Websailor if she's turn her journal into an occasional column for us, and I don't think she's missed an issue in three years! That's just extraordinary.
3: Favourite Post Contributor
TonsilRevenge is astonishing. Escape Pod Dreams and Platypus Dancing are Post institutions, and I think the fella is a genius.
4: Favourite Post Editor
Haha! I guess EMR is the one who influenced me the most, and if I can include assistants it's hard to look past the current team, who are incredibly easy to work with. But Shazz is incomparable. She loves The Post and what we're doing with it; in fact, sometimes you feel her blinking in disbelief that the thing is still going when she emails. I got drunk with her on a great little Dutch bar once, too. Love her to bits.
5: Favourite Personal Post Submission
The Toubab Travels mini-series made me realise I enjoyed writing for The Post far more than for the Edited Guide.
6: Favourite Post Cartoon
This is an easy one for me. Wowbagger's 'Tales of a Newbie' series is just wonderful; very wry, very funny and very h2g2.
7: Favourite Post Feature
A very recent one: Pinniped's Ghosts of Eagles is one of the best pieces I've ever read, anywhere.
8: Favourite Post Issue
I have to say the 13th March 2008 issue. Not only was it my first as Editor, but it was also the Beeblecast issue. I spent six months learning from EMR, and the same six months putting together the AV for the Beeblecast. It was incredibly exciting and a lot of work, but looking at that issue still gives me shivers.
9: Favourite Post Fiction
I love the real epic series: Trry Horowitz, Great Knolly, On the Subject of Pie. My favourite, though, is a one-off – Woodpigeon's The Missing Book.
B'Elana's Top Nine Post Moments
1: Favourite Post Poem
My favourite poem is this little gem by Alex Ashman: A Poem About Peer Review . I found it while idly browsing the Poetry Archive and I loved it right away. In fact, I loved it so much I even linked to it from one of my RR columns.
2: Favourite (Current) Regular Post Column
I love all the Regular columns. I know them all very well as I used to edit them for quite some time. However, if I have to choose a favourite, it has to be Tales of Benshasha, which is a regular column although it has a permanent place in the Features. It has everything a good story should have: it makes you laugh and cry and angry, and it always gives you some insight into a world that's unknown to most of us.
3: Favourite Post Contributor
Gnomon – Notes from Around the Sundial
It took a bit of persistence (some even called it 'pestering') to convince Gnomon, but I pride myself in having won him as a regular contributor to the Post, and his articles are always interesting and well written and cover literally everything, so you just never know what he'll write about next.
4: Favourite Post Editor
Rich, and I'm not saying this because he's my 'boss'.
I don't know Shazz very well, and although I started writing and joined the team when EMR was still in charge, her time as the Post Editor had mainly gone unnoticed by me before that. That is not to say that I don't admire her for the very hard and good work she has done, but we never really built a relation. Rich was the ass ed for the Regulars back then, and after I had joined the team, it was Rich who explained everything to me because EMR was already very busy with her school exams at the time. He encouraged me to do more, and try new things; he trusted me enough to give the editor's baton to me for a while, he 'created' the position of Content Editor for me, and as he's the only editor I've worked with very closely (and still am), this was the easiest question to answer.
5: Favourite Personal Post Submission
Soundcheck, a poem which later featured in the Beeblecast Trial
The poem is based on conversations that actually happened, and recording and sequencing it for the Beeblecast Trial was great fun.
6: Favourite Post Cartoon
I'm not a Cartoon person: I either don't understand them, and/or the colours and overload of details are doing my head in. There is however, a promising new cartoonist whose cartoons are pleasant on the eyes and easy to understand: Jhawkesby.
7: Favourite Post Feature
Mu Beta Does (For) Eurovision by – you guessed it – Mu Beta.
It was the first one in the series I read, after having followed the discussion on the perennial Eurovision Song Contest thread on 'Ask h2g2'. This one, like the others, is a fun piece and the result of a great online community event. If you've never read the Eurovision Features, or followed the Eurovision Thread 'live' I would really recommend you start doing both next year.
8: Favourite Post Issues
This isn't as easy as it looks, because although the Beeblecast issue stands out in many ways for everybody, the issues in June/July this year for which I stood in as Acting Editor are the ones which are most special for me, each of the three being unique in one way or the other.
9: Favourite (Past) Column
The Post Word Play1 by Greebo T. Cat
I played it very soon after I had joined the site, and I distinctly remember that I eagerly awaited the new word every Thursday. That was back then when I didn't have my own PC, so I had to wait until my husband had left for work and my sons had left for school, and only then could I sneak in and have a look at the new word. By the time I eventually managed to find the column (being the newbie I was I didn't know where to search for it when it wasn't on the FP or the FP hadn't yet swithced over, I forgot which), most of the words had already been posted. Still, I sat there with my letters from the scrabble box and a dictionary and tried my best. Who'd have thought that the Post had such an influence on my life right from the start, eh?
Terran's Top Nine Post Moments
The Post is nine years old, and scarily, I've been on h2g2 for six of them now! Anyway, following on from Psycorp's great idea, I have come up with my own list of Top Nine Post Moments, which are primarily in the order in which I came upon then, rather than the best - because frankly, they're all brilliant!
1: Wowbagger's Tales of a Newbie
When Wowbagger's series of cartoons started, I was a newbie! And so it was a great introduction to the site, and its weird and wonderful ways! I don't think I've ever seen anything quite encapsulate the experience like these cartoons. Of course an honourable mention for all of his cartoons, including the h2g2 Life series, but Tales of a Newbie really was a significant moment on h2g2.
2: The CAC Continuum
It's hard for me to break down the CAC Continuum into any really specific moments, because it was a great way of rounding up people who were vaguely interested in writing and had posted random – if not entirely perfect (although I only speak about myself for that part 
) – pieces. Over the years they had some fantastic pieces of writing and poetry, and I'm sure, like me, a lot of people became involved in the Post because of them, rescuing people from the AWW (pre-Underguide of course) and the flea market. They were the h2g2 Lone Gunmen of their day. ~ jwf ~, Deidzoeb, TonsilRevenge, and many many others - I salute you.
3: 24 Lies a Second
24 Lies a Second was a movie review column which would regularly provide in-depth analysis of the latest things to hit the screen. I really enjoyed it, not because I always agreed with his summation, but that he had such a passion for it. Awix also deserves special mention for the sterling work he did for the post over the years that may not have always been obvious.
4: Meet Mr Inquisitor
Mr Inquisitor,like 24 lies a second was intially written and presented by Awix. However, the most prolific contributor was Psycorp, who took over the reins. Apart from actually appearing in it, I was always impressed by both Awix's and Psycorp's interviews which always proved to be entertaining and revealing.
5: Sporting With Egon
Egon, and then for a time his American counterpart - namely Several aka Random (who is tragically no longer with us) - provided sterling sporting reports from around the globe. From football to cricket, to rugby and baseball, and much more besides. For four years I would regularly enjoy their reports.
6: The Evil Army of H2G2 cartoons
This may come a little from left of field, but I really thought it was fascinating that an h2g2 group would actually draw a cartoon of things going on in their somewhat fictional world! There a lots of great cartoons, but I felt this is what the spirit of the Post was about. And I'd love to see more!
7: H2G2 Story Time
What a fantastic idea! A story published in the Post that was written by whoever wanted to add to the thread. And huge credit to Clive the Flying Ostrich for overseeing and putting it all together. And it is still going on, even though it has been going for a long time. And I can only say I've had as much fun reading it, as I have adding my own contributions to it.
8: The h2g2 Presidential Election 2005
Okay I wasn't there for the previous h2g2 Presidential election, but this was a fascinating one. Not least because it was amidst a very turbulent time for the post - at which time I found myself right at the centre of the storm with a number of others in the Post. But that aside, this was a fascinating concept that did actually bring about a community leader - Hypatia, who still holds the position! Who replaced the previous (slightly less active, but nontheless marvellous) President Peregrin (fool of a took! )
9: The h2g2 AViators
And last, but most certainly not the least (quite the opposite infact), I bring us to the introduction of the h2g2 AViators commanded most fantastically by the one and only, current editor-in-chief of the Post Skanyrich (or just Rich)! This is a project which has few boundaries beyond our own imaginations, because it opens up new potential - not just for the Post alone, but for the whole of h2g2. It unleashes the whole potential of the Internet on to h2g2 – which may be uncomfortable for some, but I truely believe that if it comes to fruition (and it has already started with quite some vigor) it will be spoken of for years to come... let the revolution continue!
Shazz' Top Nine Post Moments
Well, another year passes and the Post goes from strength to strength. In honour of the 9th
anniversary edition I have been asked to pick my top 9 moments. This has proved almost as impossible
as the oft played game of 'Desert Islands Discs'.
Complete Issues(1-3)
My first three picks have to be complete issues which reflect the sense of community enjoyed by
most members of h2g2.
1. Although tempted to go for the very first issue, I have plumped,
instead, for the online version of The Paper Post, which presented
all attendees at the 'Rupert meet' with a hard copy. With alI the work involved I don't think I slept the 48
hours before flying over to London and Abi and Peta did a wonderful job collating and stapling it. I still
have my copy with its autographs from all of the (then) italics and a fair few researchers and will treasure
it as something unique.
2. My next issue has to be the one on the 17th May 2001. It was the
first after the sad death of DNA and an incredibly hard one to put together as the whole site was in a
state of shock. With help from a lot of online friends, we managed to come up with not only a tribute
edition but one which encouraged looking forward to the future, albeit with one bright light missing.
3. My last whole issue choice is also one which appeared just after a momentous world event, this
time in the USA. h2g2 Post 13.09.01 should really be coupled with
h2g2 post 20.09.01 as more h2g2ers reported in. It was a time
when the whole world seem to unite with anger and outrage, but mostly with concern and grief.
Contributors(4-6)
Another really difficult choice for me as we've had so many brilliant contributors over the years. Do I
go for prolific or excellence of writing, opinion or fiction? In the end I decided to highlight the authors I
would read first when opening my post mail.
4. Top of the list has to be Ormondryd. Here is a writer who can tackle
anything from heavy political debate to the absurdity of sport and do it in style, with a smattering of
poetry thrown in for good measure. If you haven't read any of his work, then you have plenty to choose
from at his Post Archive.
5. Next come Quizzical. Her Running
With Scissors series always brought a smile to my face whatever subject she tackled.
6. Finally it has to be Wowbagger, although it was a close run thing for
Spimcoot. h2g2 Life encapsulated
the whole h2g2/Post experience for me. Sometimes I would let him know of a funny event around h2g2
that day and have the cartoon through by the same evening. Best of all I can revisit the archive at any
time and still find them all funny.
Outstanding Articles (7-9)
7. First has to be McMurdo Station by Tim Smith. I just love the fact that you can
go anywhere in the world via the medium of the internet, and was bowled over that someone from the
Antarctic was a member of h2g2 and prepared to write about his experiences and provide pictures.
8. Next comes Embarrassing Questions About Sexual Orientation by Fragilis. Another of my favourite writers, she managed to tackle this tricky subject fully and with style and generated a nice amount of feedback along the way.
9. Last, but not least, All-out war on the sidelines by Lonnytunes. Another good friend of The Post, he took the difficult subject of violence in sport and, to quote the feedback, Even though its 'sad but true' I couldn't help laughing out loud.
Various Contributors
