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

I think that all contributing members should feel compelled to write a small entry about their home town. It would really fit with the spirit of the guide (I think) to get a lot of entries on all the places in the world and what to do when you get there, where to eat, where to sleep, what to avoid, etc.

Currently I am working one one for my town, I lived there from the time I was born to the time I left for the navy... over 18 years... I didnt realize what I had until I moved away...

I've lived in 25 houses in 10 countries in the last 30 years. This is going to be very difficult.
The main reason I haven't forwarded my own effort on the town where I have a house in England (Caistor North Lincolnshire England) is that I find so many of these homw town things boring. There ARE other guides on the Intrenet if you want the basic information, but the recent article on Goole, Yorkshire was a gem. Definitely woth the price of admission

I agree with chrome, it was a bit bad when DNA was asked on breakfast news about whether you could type in a town or city and find an entry on it and he ended up umming and ahing before saying in several cases you could.

I think even if your not sure you know enough about a place, do what research you can. Then you put an entry up and ask people for suggestions and opinions based on there experience on that place. That way we get an entry in the end.

I am underway planning my entry.

Researcher PSG

PSG Could you explain the DNA thing? Being in the united states I never heard about that...

oh well when H2G2 was relaunched on the BBC, Douglas went on BBC1's Breakfast news program to do an interview on the hitchikers guide and H2G2. And it all went well apart from the little stumbling bit about entries on places. He was basically asked whether you could type in a place name and get info on it, and he had to cover saying something about well it had something on a place he went to a bit ago but the more people get involved the more there should be entries that. Basically he had to admit we didn't have much on places, yet.

Ahh, well as we continue to grow more and more will come about! Hopefully some day we will be able to pull out our palmtop and look up info on the coffee shop around the corner...

Well I still think more needs to be done on places so a list of towns and citys that have no entry may be useful to aid guide development.

Researcher PSG

It would be lots easier to list the places that *are* covered. Just go to "The Universe" and drill down the menus.

Of course, if we mobilize the entire Guide readership to start writing entries on their home towns, that means we have to recruit more Scouts and Editors and whatnot...

(signed) Administrator-General 42, who is duly considering writing about his *own* home town for once.

Also would a commercial link to a business (say a resort) in your town be taboo?

If it is a valid source of data on an important aspect to the place it should be included. But moderators move in mysterious ways...

Okie dokie...

Technically, I have 3 home towns:

1. The town I was born in, which isn't likely to get many tourists,
unless they like fishing in the reservoir

2. The town I lived in from ages 2 through 18. There's a
winery, a pro golf course, and a first-rate auction house in
the town, but mostly the place is a swamp. The people who
are connoisseurs of wineries, golf courses, and auction houses
already know as much as they need to know about these attractions,
with or without H2G2 Guide. The people who love swamps
would be much more interested in the Okeefenokee
(Hi, Pogo! ) or the exotic wetlands in Minnespota and
South Central Canada.

3. Boston, where I live now. Granted, people around the globe
have heard of Boston, and there are undoubtedly many
who would (and should!) visit. There are several articles
that already cover aspects of Boston (The Citgo sign
the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum, etc., etc.), so it's
just a question of deciding how many articles would be
needed to do Boston justice. I would not be the best person
to write about Fenway Park (Home of the Red Sox ),
as I have only been to one baseball game there in my life.
Symphony Hall would be a stretch, but I could probably
manage it, though I'm more familiar with the backstage
areas than the parts where the audience sits.
so it would be nice to

Sometimes what happens backstage is more facinating than what is going on in the audience...
"Trust me, I'm a profesinal (bah... spelling)"

I loved working on plays and when I finnaly got a chance to do backstage work (doing it as the set designer and builder, and the audio person) I loved it... though I didnt appricate the director talking about me behind my back... I am the one who did her set ALL BY MYSELF... well ok my Father came and helped me build some risers but besides that... I did everything from the floor (I repainted the stage) to the overhead (I had to hang some arches)

To be honest I'm of the school that something of good quality and accuracy that covers alot of a subject is better than nothing at all. And can in the future form the basis of a more complete entry.

So basically give it a go you might end up with a better entry than you expect.

Researcher PSG

Even a little snippet on somthing would be good enough because if someone wanted to know about it and they found an entry on it they could send a message to the person who wrote it and find out more about it from them, or at least get pointed in the right direction.

At least that is what my vision of a perfect guide is.

I also have three towns of residence that I could write about. There's no particular reason not to write about *all* of them.

I've written about several towns that I've visited, but I've avoided writing about cities the size of Boston so far. I just don't know how to fit Boston into a single Guide entry.

Well I've written a little article about my village:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A595398

Thing is, it's hardly going to be useful for the guide because nobody wants to visit! Anyway, it might interest you if you like to know about places!

I have a little bit on my town, but there is a lot of work to do still. It seems to take forever to get the info I need and the put it into the entry.

Hello Liz
Very good little entry on your village, I have only 1 criticism: What are the post offices opening times? It may sound petty but apart from that it's very good and I'd put it in for Peer Review if I where you.

It is yet another little step to completeness.

Researcher PSG