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

hi... i am not sure who i am talking to here but i have a problem.

an entry of mine got yikesed and then hidden for copyright reasons.

i did not receive the email from the moderators.

i guessed at what needed fixing.

it got yikesed again.

i wrote to the moderators telling them i had not received any infor from them.

they wrote back telling me they HAD sent me two emails to the same address as this one.



why would they argue? why would i lie? why didnt they just send me an email telling me what needed to be fixed instead of arguing with me about whether or not i had received any emails from them?

this moderation system doesnt work well if anyone can yikes for any reason and then the moderation behaves as it has with me... being non-forthcoming and non-helpful... for whatever reason.

Is there anyone here that can help me with this ? I am not asking you to discuss an individual moderation issue here... I am asking you to discuss what seems to be a pattern in moderation... slowness of the informing email and then vagueness in the email about what needs fixing and how to do it.

essentially this makes me reluctant to write any entries

Traveller in Time on top
"If the site authorities suggest they have send you emails they did.
Blame it on their lack of imagination, they will not lie to you.

Chances are you have this email but it is marked as spam and hidden accordingly. "

actually, TiT, i was so eager to get a reply from them that i checked hourly... not only my mail but my spam and trash

interesting, the moderators sent me an email today about an entirely different thing... an old posting from june

it is very interesting because i was thinking maybe this was the problem:

The emails i want, concerning an entry... the ones h2g2 feedback said were sent... they said were from the moderators not from h2g2 feedback. i thought perhaps my email program was not accepting email from the moderators for some strange reason.

but i did not go into the email settings to look for that possibility or change anything.

so, since i just received an email from the moderators, i guess that is not the problem

> "If the site authorities suggest they have send you emails they did."

You can't rely on that - because it isn't true! Not only is it possible for them not to send an email (which I know for a fact has happened in some instances) but the BBC computers can mess up and lose emails altogether (or, on other occasions, send them in triplicate!). During some previous periods when the BBC computers were acting up very badly, lots of emails were lost and there were a lot of complaints about it from quite separate people.

Meanwhile, the problem of them failing to specify whatever it is they are pretending is an issue with the posting or article remains a standard one. They can even send out completely inappropriate boiler-plate emails which bear no resemblance to anything. So there isn't any direct connection between receiving an email alleging a problem and there actually being a problem of that sort, nor between something being removed and the user receiving a matching email.

(it wasn't me)

Traveller in Time decoding
"Yes, well perhaps.

I have not noticed a flood of complaints about not received or double received emails.

In the mean while and lots of "

this issue has been going on since the 14th of September when i sent h2g2feedback my first inquiry after not recieving an email from them.

i received no reply so i guessed, fixed it and then put the entry in AWW

it got yikesed

so i sent another email to them around the 20th and h2g2feedback replied that the moderators had sent me an email on the 14th and on the 20th.

on the 22nd of September i sent h2g2feedback and the moderators emails saying "who cares about the old emails... just please send me specific info on how i can fix this entry so that it can be reinstated."

it is now the 24th of September... that is 10 days without a viable answer to my request.

10 days of and and i really want to continue working on my word-art collage.

from the moderation info page:

"f you have a piece of content failed by a Moderator,

you will be emailed with the details and the content that was failed.

This only applies to new Postings, new Guide Entries, or Guide Entries which you have reactivated from your Personal Space."

nb: disco balls mine

Hello fluffy,

As we have explained, our records show that you were sent emails regarding these issues. They did not bounce back. Our first thoughts were that they had perhaps lodged in your spam filter, but you have checked this.

As Traveller has said, we have not had complaints that would be indicative of a wider problem.

Just to let you know (in case your email is malfunctioning), we will be sending you replies to your other emails shortly.

Some points though: no moderation systems is entirely error-free. However, since there is nothing (certainly at this end) to suggest that the system has failed in this instance, and it could well be an issue connected with your email account, we'd ask you to exercise a bit of patience and perhaps be a bit less accusatory regarding this matter.

Kind regards,

h2g2 Feedback

thank you... i have been patient... it is the dearth of replies that is starting to make me impatient.

i have successfully received emails from h2g2 feedback and moderators so i don't think it is at my end.

but, as i said, it really isn't important what has or hasn't happened so far as long as i DO find out how to fix my entry

um (just in case i do have an email problem) could you post here a short message something like this

we sent your emails

when you send them?

thanks

Hello Fluffy,

Although you have successfully received some emails, this does not mean that the problems is not at your end: there are others that show as being sent here that you say you haven't received. We have absolutely no evidence to show the problem lies at this end.

We cannot discuss moderation issues on site. We will forward the emails to you again, but if it doesn't work this time the only thing we can suggest that you change the email address in your Preferences.

Kind regards,

h2g2 Editors

wait!! wait!!

don't reply to my emails... just send me an email telling me specifically what is wrong with that entry and which parts of it need to be fixed? please?

yay! it has all been figured out, thanks to the kind moderation team and h2g2 editors!!

it seems that i have had a pattern in some of the entries i have made... i am an artist and like to make collages... things made up of a bunch of disparate things that, put together, make something new...

only i didn't realise that i was doing it over and over here in different entries and some postings too

so, when they explained in detail what the problems in this specific entry were, it all of a sudden became clear to me i can't do my word-collages on here... using other people's work

i am slow... but i am sure.

and the moderation team, feedback, and the editors have displayed exceptional patience and graciousness with me... and they seem to know what they are doing, too!!

to the editors: this isn't too specific i hope i just want to thank you is all