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

Possibly the "Minimum" wage would come into play?

What you suggest is precisely how we implement content managed websites. The "internal" documents can be updated freely, but only approve dcontent makes it as far as the published site.

Any suggestions that necessitate technical changes to software have been regularly dismissed as too difficult/not viable/another thing to add to a long list of stuff for the overworked techs like Jim Lynn.

For example, as I understand it, the semi-automated emails that are sent by Moderators to explain our "transgressions" are constructed by some specific software. Moderators choose a few options from different fields, with no room for customized notes by the Moderator, and the email is sent out. When several people have complained about the confusing messages they have received to explain why their contributions were censored, they have been told that it would take a lot of work to modify the moderation software to add more options.

Why options? Why can't they have normal email, cut and paste from a few form letters to meet most circumstances, and still allow for notes to clarify or customize the message? I could be at the public library and flip open a window with email, allowing me to make endless emails for free. So why is it such a "technical" problem for h2g2?

Anyhow, maybe there's something I don't know about Information Technology that leaves me ignorant of the "big picture," but that example is a typical response to even the most minor suggestion that would involve technical tinkering.

Y'know, I took this suggestion to technical feedback after we'd talked about it back in April, or whenever. Jim and Mark said that it didn't seem technically problematic at all, but that it just sounded like a bad idea. Somehow they understood the idea as adding more restrictions, although I had thought of it as the opposite of that.

I let it drop then. I'll bet you could find the thread if you're interested enough; Lord knows I'm not.

GTB

Oh well. I believe it was Gilda Radner who said,

"IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING."

Say, Deidzoeb, I've been wondering. How goes it? Do you feel optimistic these days about the petition, the Zaphodista movement, moderation in general? I've been keeping tabs less closely than I was in April, but I've seen the list of names grow steadily (or so) at the petition page.

Just thought I'd ask, and say that I hope you're doing well, and thanks for putting so much heart and mind into doing what's right. You've helped to enrich my experience of the Guide.

Cheers!

[apologies in advance for the topic drift.]

I don't know. It's hard to say how much of an effect we're having. I like the fact that Peta and Mark have actively helped the petition to be sent through the proper channels. I'm confident that our message is being sent to the right person or people. I'm not confident that it will cause any major changes. But at least if we can show that a few hundred researchers express disagreement with the restrictions since the BBC takeover, that number will stick in their minds the next time they consider a UK General Election policy, or decide to forbid all URLS and email addresses throughout h2g2. (whatever)

The last week or two, I've been trying to contact each of the Zaphodistas through their personal space or emails. I noticed at one point that we had 178 signatures on the main Zaphodista page, but only 76 signatures to the toned-down, cleaned-up Petition. No reason we shouldn't have 100% Zaphodista participation on the Petition (except for a few people who have dropped out).

Meanwhile, I've also been devoting more time to writing some new entries, socializing, trying to use h2g2 for what it's intended, spending less time protesting.

I don't know if the whole Zaphodista movement is dying down. Hopefully it's just waxing and waning, and might come back strong later, as necessary.

Thanks for your comments. Cheers!

I (being late yet gung-ho) wholeheartedly support this plan. I even propose that those of us in favor of it consider opening another URL to jumpstart this re-actively moderated edition of H2G2. I'd only be able to contribute a small amount of time, money, or talent to the herculean task, being an impecunious humanities major w/no web-coding experience. Yet I promise to give what I can if someone with more time, etc., agrees to head such a venture up.

-- Nick Douglas, [email protected]

I beleive some people (me included) went elsewhere for a while check out n2g2, although that never REALLy took off..

Hey Argon0! Did you miss the news? This is no longer a moderated site. Things only go to the moderators if someone hits the Linda button.

Yes, but now all h2g2 is reactively moderated (instead of proactively), so we're all happy campers now, right?

Mikey

The only Zaphodista platform left unaddressed is the external images, right? Or are those permitted now, too?


GTB

I think you're right. The only major thing left from the Petition for Greater Freedom is external images. They aren't permitted exactly, but I think there's a larger volunteer artist scheme in which more people can get their images chosen for Edited Guide entries. Not sure how it works. I don't think it means more people can create images for use on their own unedited guide entries, but I could be wrong.

I'm pretty much assimilated to the BBC way of h2g2 by now. For a while, I thought I was like the last Japanese soldier on a Pacific Island, surviving in the jungle 20 years without realizing the war is over. But I don't have the will to fight anymore.

The Community Artist scheme is a way of allowing some researcher participation in creating front page and article graphics, but the guidelines are strict and peer review sets high standards within the group.

A lot of "heritage" art was blobbed -- the term for an image that obtains a catalogue number -- but not all, and you only got your art blobbed if you knew about the scheme or if the work had been in some public project like the H2G2 Post. I didn't know about it and was unhappy not to get a blobbed image for the atelier. A lot of stuff remains to be done.

Once it's felt that a core of charter members is comfortable with and good at procuding art according to guidelines we'll be allowed to produce artworks for clubs and groups on H2G2. But there has been NO relaxation of the rules, as far as I know, regarding the inclusion of offsite art.

Lil

And there probably won't be any relaxing of the rules, since it was regarded by some as "bandwidth theft". Other services like Yahoo Geocities now prevent linking directly to images stored there anyway, so many people would not have been able to continue the practice regardless of the BBC rules. The site would have become a quagmire of broken image icons, so in the end it's probably better this way.

Hmm... I have been away for a bit, so didn't realise we had moved over to reactive....

Images... My favourite bugbear - it really miffs me that I can't include piccies of Ski Resorts I go to that I take, its stopped me carrying on my Ski Resorts Project....

I reckon the Beeb should set up a decent sized server (say a NAS with 320GB - cost of around £2500) and either give users who want it 20 Mb each or charge a small fee (say £5/year) for those who want it, to store personal images on, which could then be included in articles...

You could than have a "premium" H2G2 membership, including image space... (or is charging against Beeb rules?).

There would also have to be a setting on the preferences page to turn imagas on or off, but you can already do that in browser...