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

furtim,

When I asked about disclaimers in the past, which I thought should free us up in a lot of ways if they were really effective, Mark Moxon explained that disclaimers can't really hold much weight legally. They are placed there to help lawyers argue that the public is warned, but supposedly the warnings are not powerful enough to rely on. If the disclaimers could be believed, then we should be able to use any external links and BBC would not be responsible for them, and they wouldn't need to engage in pro-active moderation because they wouldn't be immediatly responsible for things posted here by the public.

You want to get really outraged... Were you aware of the silly political censorship that went on at the time of the UK General Election? Due to the fear that BBC would be held responsible for political opinions expressed by the public through h2g2, or fear that political balance would be compromised by displaying unbalanced views of the public, all discussions pertaining to the UK General Election were removed from h2g2. The Editors asked that these discussions happen on a bbc.co.uk discussion board, where BBC moderators could carefully remove spammed messages, or shut down their boards if they felt overrun by one party or another.

That policy seems quite contrary to Adams' invitation that is still linked from current Welcome pages: "You can create your own Guide Entries containing anything you want, from your opinions of world events to a description of your home town..." Should have an asterisk after "world events", linked down to small print saying, "Your opinions of world events not available here at election time."

I'm only retrospectively aware of the General Election censorship, meaning that I've read about it on some Zaphodista pages, but I wasn't really around and paying attention at the time. I agree, it's completely silly.

Are all these weird legal bits with the disclaimer just UK things, or what? As far as I know, disclaimers are enough to prevent prosecution in the United States. At least, it would seem that way given that McDonald's hasn't been sued over their hot coffee since they put those little "Caution: Hot" messages all over the cups.

At any rate, this whole business is just further proof why we need to get together all the world's lawyers and send them off to colonize Pluto. Or Rupert, if it's there. We'll just toss all the lawyers and then solve all of these civil disputes on television with the impartial judgements of Judge Judy. Or perhaps we'll just stage gladiatorial battles, also televised, in which the settlement is awarded to the party which survives (mostly) intact.

Let's send them to Rupert, even if it isn't there.

I like the idea of televised gladiatorial battles, but we'd *have* to have the classic "Star Trek" ominous fight music over them...

And half the lawyers would have that glazed expression like a Vulcan in heat?

[Extra bonus points to anyone who knows the precise jargon for a Vulcan's special time of life when he needs to breed. I don't know the answer.]

P'ockh V'ar (sp?)

Gesundheit! (sp?)

Oddly enough, that episode ("Amok Time") of Star Trek was on the Sci-Fi Channel just yesterday. Funny how these things work, isn't it?

I don't recall exactly what the name was, but I think it sounded like whatever Peet said.

Let's send them to Rupert, *especally* if it isn't there.

what has that cuddly little Bear ever done to deserve so many Lawyers?

Get out some of the video tapes of his cartoon adventures from the late 1980's, and find a section where he walks down a town street. View it in slo-mo/freeze frame and read the shop signs. Then you'll know why he needs all the lawyers he can get... And this stuff was broadcast on the BBC!

the Beeb sure have a lot to answer for ITC.....

Erm, yeah... I'm madmaz, to be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U169317 . I thought I'd already signed up for this but I'm guessing not, so here's me. ...It's an almost revolutionary looking smiley.

Yeah, add me.

47349

Njan (Clarinettist, Judge, Philosopher, Prince of Darkness, Addictee of Lisa)

Or just Njan. (Or Njan Pephyr)

ta!

Hi Njan,

Actually there's a coding trick I discovered only a few weeks ago. Instead of trying to keep up with everyone's name changes, I can simply put and it will show your exact current nickname. Then any time you change your nickname under "Preferences," it will show that change on the Zaphodista page. Cool, huh?

Since you're willing to sign up here, please also wander over to "Petition for Greater Freedom at h2g2" at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A544943 and consider signing. It's a more formal appeal than the "demands" of the Zaphodista page, toned down and set to go through proper channels, though I suspect now that electronic signatures are ignored and only paper copies mailed to Bush House are given any respect. A month or two back, Mark told me they hadn't really responded to this petition because they had only received six signatures. I asked him if they noticed the 97 online signatures (at the time). He said they had. Not sure why he said "six" then in the first place.

I don't know if this stuff will do any good. I only hope that h2g2 will outlive this momentary br@!nf@rt by BBC, and that future generations reading this stuff will look back in awe of how woefully out of touch the BBC was with their public in 2001.

Sorry for the digression. Welcome, Njan! Good luck trying to communicate on h2g2! I suggest wearing a helmet so you don't get cauliflower-ear from wrestling with moderators.

*grins*... cool. Less work for you. ..

I've handwritten the lettery thing, and will probably post this evening. (If I can find where I put it). I don't like typed letters.

Hmmm. Two years of h2g2, and only in the last few months, any of this draconian censorship stuff. Not good.

*has been noticing it particularly badly recently, having had homepage censored (twice), journal entry censored (once), messages removed (several times) and witheld (once). Oh, that and LOTS of forum conversations (Some important)... gone...*

In their defense, the old entries and discussions should eventually be put up again, as the censors work their way back. In offense to them, this time and effort is being wasted and communications silenced because they place concern for our "protection" from offensive items above our desire to communicate what we want.

*cites article 11 of the human rights act: The right to freedom of expression, including the right to recieve and impart information without restriction from public bodies*

When h2g2 came back up (Feb, wasn't it) I actually resigned from the Scouts and Aces in protest against the new moderation, and it was a long time before I came back. If I'd known about the Zaphodistas, I'd have signed up straight away.

Krans J. Hopeson (recently acquired a second initial) - U125985

I've only just joined H2G2 but already noticed moderater intolerances (being made to remove a link to what was actually an interesting resource, because there was a shop page on the same site, etc) ...and i do not believe that this was what douglas adams had in mind.. the BBC in general has done (well, commissioned) *some* amazing things but it thinks a lot of itself for a jumped up scheduling company...

... I was following the thread a little further back... as for sending paper signatures, perhaps if you posted a form letter up that could be printed out and an address to send it to (preferably one of the BBC freepost addresses) then we could all send our own and you might get a better response.. I don't know what address to send it to though..
(if you already did this and i missed it then sorry)


..and i love that revolutionary feeling in the morning !

I ANDROKTONE - U185047
Member of CW and BedsSA

Hi Androktone,

At the bottom of the petition itself, it suggests printing out the petition page and mailing that to the proper postal address (which is also listed on the petition page). If you do mail a paper copy of the petition, please use the address specified, since that's the one that the editors of h2g2 requested we use. Some people print out the text of the petition and add their further comments. Maybe you were looking at one of the earlier drafts of the petition? They're still up somewhere. The main, final draft petition that has gotten signatures is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A544943

Anyhow, welcome to h2g2 and welcome to the Struggle!

Regarding BBC's contributions to society: don't forget the weird radio laws of the 60s that required extra taping of musicians, resulting in all those BBC SESSIONS. Particularly the Lord God Almighty John Allen (James Marshall "Jimi") Hendrix.

"We're being taken off the air..."
- Jimi on "Sunshine of Your Love" from the BBC Sessions.