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

Facebook is a bloody awful place. Don't get me wrong, it has some great Web 2.0 features: cloud computing, user-generated dynamic content, and heaps of scalability. However, most of the information going in is a heap of rubbish written by narcissistic individuals, and so the age-old adage 'rubbish in, rubbish out' has slowly taken effect.

It is therefore almost, but not entirely, unlike h2g2. It's similar enough that an h2g2 group on Facebook is superfluous, but different enough that many Facebook users wouldn't have the patience for h2g2's learning curve. Having an h2g2 group on Facebook may provide a tiny, tiny amount of advertisement for h2g2, but otherwise I fail to see the point. In the opposite direction, anyone capable of stumbling across h2g2's Front Page must be capable of finding Facebook without our help.

I could make some similar arguments about Wikipedia, but I'm not going to. Both Wikipedia and Facebook are well-known, boring to use, and overlap with h2g2 in terms of purpose.

So what am I trying to say here? I think sites that h2g2 links to should be (a) equally lacking in fame*, (b) utterly different in purpose to h2g2 (that is to say, neither a social site nor an encyclopaedia), (c) entertaining, educating and informing places.

* So many sites have risen and fallen, risen and fallen, risen and fallen so often that it's quite tempting to think that Internet users must be (a) web-sick, time sick, browsing history sick or some such thing, and (b) stupid.

Alex

Good point!

I also think the Facebook link should go because you can't see it unless you're signed up - the same reason I don't link to articles from scientific journals and so on from Entries. Surely it's a "useless" link to most people...

I think the cunning plan behind this is to make people sign up with facebook where they can then join the official h2g2 group.

Well I'm not signing up for Facebook for anyone - and I think if we're going to have a link to Facebook on the FP then it needs to be clearly and in words of one syllable (for eejits like me) that you need to sign up to Facebook to see it.

even if you are signed up to facebook. The h2g2 group is closed, so you cant join it uless you are invited, or you ask nicely. Ergo, it is a pointless link in that sense too.

mini

I agree entirely with what Alex, Mal and minichesse have said in posts 1, 2 and 6.

(I was most surprised to click on the FB link, only to find that one had to sign up to it!)

A

I'm with you all on this too. Facebook? Pffft!

Remember GW (Get Writing) and how MW (More Writing)arose phoenix like out of it's ashes?
It still survives and is flourishing with a good mix of members and still a few old GW stalwarts who are hootooers as well.
Would this be a worthwhile site to link too?
I was thinking of the AWW more so than the Guide.

i have a mate that left from next door, and as i use the cyber he said, lets use the facebook to keep in contact, so i did, but found to many ways to leave a message, the wall, the addon and more, i got so confused, and when i found any friends linked to me or him could read the messsage to on some, i said no way.
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to may drawbacks, to open jim