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

F*** censorship! Rissa of the ShoeShine at U236874 is behind you til she dies!

Ole' Salt here...#U171729...I have not read the backlog but any censorship can ...must only be SELF censorship...& one might be kind/wise enough to post warnings for various 'trigger' subjects so a person might choose not to read something.

I'm just bursting in to invite you to the 2cd Annual Hootoo Harvest Festival... A1143893Threads for the pun-a-thon, wine tasting, etc. are all posted there...you may return to your regularly schedualed rant, etc..

~Bring A Friend or Two~

I want to join! as I said, rousing speach, a real crowd pleaser, freedom of speach!

Free me!!!


er... us...


I wanna join!

Me too!

A2006650

Interesting snippet from Wish you were here - about H2G2 -it says (and I'm probably paraphrasing) that "H2G2 didn't suffer from flame wars, and other problems usually associated with online communities, probably because it attracted the more intelligent surfers..." (It was something very similar to that)...

So why do they need to us?

So they know where to throw the !

To be quite frank, I think the current level of moderation is about right - the systems are there to cope with the (growing, as is everything else about the site [except for staff numbers]) genuine trolls & abusers. It's stupid to have complaints rely on javascript, and the policy on the Iraq war was a little - how shall I put it - extreme, but generally the current level of moderation seems to match the current level of abuse.

Just my , of course, and that's not to say it can't be improved...

Quite, maybe now we are more "mainstream" we do need some ding - but it should be larlgely self policing...

"but it should be larlgely self policing..."

*scratches head*
I was under the impression that that's exactly what it was...

Quite!

too some extent yes... but there has been some concern with some edited guide entries being deleted after they were approved and appeared on the front page. I thought some of those articles may have been 'edgy' but not deserving of censorship even by the stated house rules. And the manner in which this was done was also rather poorly handled.

And there was one case where a user was exiled due to mistaken identity. This was handled very badly, but fortunately it was straitened out in the end.


Of course what concerns me the most now is that due to the BBCi cut backs we've lost a lot of our italics and the site has been pared back to a woefully dirth state.

Also there aren't enough italics around to argue with some of us gadflies anymore.

I must be out of touch, I hadn't heard about the cut-backs!

Didn't you notice that all the "XXX is joining the team announcements" had been phased out in place of "XXX is leaving" announcements?

No, I must say I never really visit the front page, I kind of lurk behind the covers...

Argon0... you missed the great dark time... or as some of us called it 'Petunia' (as in 'Oh no! Not Again)... Here follows the dire omen we received last fall preceding the dark time (no new entries for over two weeks and a great worry about the future of h2g2... it's still here, but It isn't really quite the same anymore IMO)

from the Announcements page
------------------------------------------------------------

8 September 2003: h2g2 is Changing...

BBCi has recently been assessing the ways in which it supports its audiences. One of our key objectives is to make sure that high-quality content and services are provided to as many BBCi visitors and Community members as is possible. In order to grow and develop new areas, we plan to reduce staffing levels in some of the more well-established areas in order to enable growth and development in others, as well as to enable staff to share and develop their expertise across the BBC.

What this all means is that there are going to be some changes to h2g2. As a mature and established Community, h2g2 is well-suited to being run with fewer permanent team members. As a result, the number of staff members working within the h2g2 Community is going to be reduced from six to two full-time staff members at any one time. This change in staffing levels is going to be introduced over the next few months.

Since we're reorganising the internal structure of the team, we've decided to review the organisation and structure of h2g2 overall. To enable this, we're taking a short break from today (8 September, 2003), so that we can spend some time working behind the scenes considering modifications and improvements.

During this reorganisation period, no new Edited Entries will be processed and we won't be entering into discussions on site. You'll undoubtedly see us in the 'Who's Online' window from time to time, as we'll need to access the editorial tools, but while we're working on the changes we won't be posting to the site or answering questions. Moderation issues will continue to be handled as usual.

After this break, the team will put up an announcement detailing some of the ideas developed during the break, and the Community will be invited to discuss them and give feedback.

Although no new Edited Guide Entries will appear until 22 September, University Entries and a Talking Point will be featured on the Front Page during this time.

Apologies for the interruption to your surfing. We'll see you all when we get back on the 22 September.

The h2g2 Team

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After that and the dreaded SSO that followed, I fear that it has become a little more quite around here. And to be honest, while you might not read the entries, I do and while there have been some good ones, I feel the general tone of the entries (except for the UG) have become a little stiff or at least a little less quirky... this is just my opinion... I could be wrong.

*shakes head* tut tut... petunia really....

Well, it was as good as calling the previous dark time 'Rupert'.

The Rupert spirit lives on.
The survivors, bearing their scars bravely and sometimes baring their scars are encamped at Yahoo. Admittedly the campsite is slightly run down because h2g2 took away all the groundsheets and the best tents when they left. We've not seen any cleaners or litterpickers for absolute ages but there is no truth in the rumours that they were eaten.
Well, not by me.
If you have a yahoo account you can view the proceedings (as did our ancestors at Bedlam) by selecting "Groups" and specifying "n2g2".
If you have a mind to, you can type in a really naughty word without adverse consequences, or if you'd rather, you can spit.

D**n! no yahoo.