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

Cool article,Pastey!

Just one thing I don't agree with - your statement that 'now things are getting out of hand, and this community that we have built doesn't like it'.

First, the 'out of hand' bit. The number of issues being raised with moderation is going down, and we're continuing to work on that. We're also working hard on continuing to refine the posting policies, but this has to be done as a BBC-wide thing, so it's not something that can be changed overnight - but we are working on it. If we were ignoring the issues and ploughing on regardless, then it would indeed be getting out of hand. But it isn't, surely?

Second, the 'community doesn't like it' bit. Of course, some (pretty vocal) people don't like it, some even to the point of rudeness. But there are lots of people out there who either don't care, or who are happy to accept the moderation system, as long as we make it work seamlessly (which we're getting towards). I'm not convinced that a generalisation like this is fair or accurate...

I'd say, instead, that the feedback from the Community is (as always) being acted upon. That's a far more positive and, in my opinion, far more accurate statement. It's also the only way in which we're going to improve this community from incredibly good to incredibly brilliant.

It's definitely not getting out of hand!

Hi Mark!

Where IS pastey by the way ?

Anyway : So now I'm a "Loyalist Zaphodista" am I ?

Do they get free beer ?

TM.

(P.S. It's very hard to reply to these threads if you have just said that you will let moderation lie for a while...Aw what the H***)

I'm here, I just had some problems with my computer over the last few days, but an influx of ram and a wopping new hard drive can nudge along even the most stubborn on machines

Point taken about my wording. And I do kinda agree with you're comments.

I suppose when I write I go for general feel rather than linguistic nicieties, for a start I make my own words up

A very moving article, and I got the feeling of a place in the web which I can call a home even though I found h2g2 far later than you.

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Re: Posting 1
>>The number of issues being raised with
>> moderation is going down

Mark, this has nothing to do with us researchers having come to terms with the situation! It's just that you wouldn't want us to repeat the same complaints (sometimes rants) over and over again. And you seem to be somewhat tired of giving the same answers all the time. Well, if you like it better that way then just yell .

And I can assure you that those 36 postings out of 200 which the [[[]]] left over from our beloved German Bulettenbude thread are nothing which any of us is happy about.
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BTW, as long as I have your attention -- what about that re-opening announcement eMail? There's an increasing amount of PeerReview postings which are transferred to the Sin Bin or Writing Workshop on the grounds that the researcher in question hasn't made it back to h2g2.