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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A615313

The perfect end to a night out? Or the bored, drunken activities of the youth today?

Love to hear your thoughts!

Stay ,
WD

Hi, Witty Ditty!
I hate to say this, because I've loved all your other entries that I've commented on, but I think the whole 'Beer Theft' section is a big mistake. You do make it sound amusing, but think about it:
In the case of removing traffic cones, warning lights and anything to do with road works, people are increasing the chances of dangerous accidents occurring. This shows a thoughtless disregard for other people's lives and safety.
In the case of removing direction signs, identification plaques etc there may be no health and safety danger involved, but someone is still put to the trouble and expense of replacing them, so it comes under the 'vandalism and destructiveness' heading in my book.

The 'Mascotry' stuff, on the other hand, sound more genuinely light-hearted, if you're talking about a basically good-natured rivalry between schools, colleges or clubs.

I seem to be the only person on Peer Review who ever advises cutting articles rather than expanding them, so here goes:
I think you should drop the first half of the entry altogether, and expand on the mascotry part, perhaps giving some examples of inter-club or inter-college rivalry.

Azara
(still surrounded by a cloud of perfume from your boutique!)

I'm not sure I totally agree with you Azara,

I would cut the article in two, The second half expanded would make a great edited entry.
But the first half should definately be kept after all it has got a disclaimer at the end.
And as I have hazy recollections of a collection of traffic cones from my student days I can't be the one to cast the first stone there .
However, I would like to add, that with my juvenile sense of humour, this one did make me laugh.

Hi Witty Ditty,

I have to confess that the juvenile within me smiled at this one!
Azara certainly has a good point, and it's a hard one to call because although pinching traffic signs etc is a absolute pain (they had to chain the tops on the beacons at zebra crossing in my University town! - not due to me, I should add), it does happen, so why not write about it. I guess it is the "glamourisation" that is at issue really. We all know we should disapprove, but can think of times when it was, or would have been tempting to do just this.

There are a couple of other points that you might consider.

1) not all beer theft is spontainious. Such a thing as pub "treasure hunts" exist in which people are encoraged to "collect" items from a list during their evening.

2) not all mascotry is pre-planned. A group of reprobates including myself once had our inflatable sheep (the Love-Ewe(TM))stolen from a bar quite spontaneously. We had only had it about an hour but a quick grab-n-leggit succeeded because, in addition to being half-cut, we were all in black-tie & dress shoes & so had trouble running after them!!

Anyway, I thought this was a fun one.

Ugi

Hiya!

Oooh; I seem to have opened a can of worms on this one...

Yep, the non-inclusion of Beer Theft is a good point, but again, it is such a widely practiced activity that I thought that it would be sad to leave it out altogether. On the other hand, there is the whole 'glamourisation' of the activity, which is clearly against the law. I've tried to redress this a little by expanding the cautionary note to include a tale of such an unsuccessful Beer Theft, but I've left the section on Beer Theft in for the time being.

Also, I've expanded the Mascotry section to include a short history of the Art, and thrown in a few tales of such attempts.

*FYI, I still haven't got past the little yellow flashing lights stage; so these are tales regaled from friends of mine who are far more adept at the Art than I *

Any comments, as always, will be gratefully received!

Stay ,
WD (glad that people are getting the hint from your new scent, Azara!)

The more I read this one, the more I like it, , it appeals to my lack of morals and infantile sense of humour.

The thing I wonder is, will it get into the edited guide like this?

I'll be watching with interest

Good luck


Whisky

Just for your info guys, the entry is under moderation....

I was going to pop a new revised entry up, which didn't seen so encouraging of the acts in question...but never mind eh

I don't mind it being hidden - it's not really an essential subject

Stay ,
WD

Actually, I've just put the new revised entry up; I hope this is less inflammatory than the previous version - I think this one is unhidden, as opposed to the last.

Just for the record: I don't mind it not being in the edited guide if it is deemed to be too inflammatory - I knew it was a risk writing this one, but I thought I'd try it and see

Please don't take any offence, I did not mean any. If I have offended, then please accept my unconditional apologies.

Stay ,
Witty Ditty

Hi, Witty Ditty!
This is just to let you know that I wasn't offended, I just thought the first section was a bit unwise. And I certainly didn't 'yikes' it - after what happened last time, I'm fairly wary of taking that step .

My personal opinion (and remember I'm not a scout, just another researcher) is that the Mascotry half would have an excellent chance of getting into the edited guide, but the Beer Theft will keep it out.
Azara

Hiya!

I'm now having second thoughts about having beer theft in there myself - don't worry; the apology was a general one!

I'm in the process of writing one just purely for mascotry anyway, but I'm going to have to take some time editing the current entry to do that...so changes may be slow.

Stay ,
WD

Hiya!

There has been a complete overhaul of the entry, and it is now 'The Art of Mascotry', with Beer Theft being omitted (I may write an entry on the drunken and illegal phenomenon that is Beer Theft, plus its consequences later, but if anyone else wants to do it before me; please, go ahead!) without, hopefully, reducing the comedic value of the entry.

So what do you think of the entry now guys? Comments, as always, gratefully received!

Stay ,
WD

Hi, Witty Ditty!

I really like the entry now. It is extremely funny, and you've managed to sound suitably stern about the dodgier side of Beer Theft in the footnotes.
Very nicely done!
Azara

First of all it must be said that Scouts *are* researchers, the only difference being that we can pick a few entries every once in a while. No qualification tests or the like are involved. Hence a comment from a Scout is not to be taken as a word from the Gods or whatever. A comment from the Italics... hmmm

I didn't find 'mascotry' in any dictionary, so... please, is it a word?

Then, it appears to me as if you had two entries merged into one there. The Sun Tsu quotes made me think of taking hostages rather than 'acquisition' of mascots, which is what the second half is about. My suggestion would be to restore the initial version (I read it, then and liked it) and include a legal disclaimer.

But then, these are just my $0.02

Bossel (Scout)

Hiya Bossel!

I have to say that I like both the version with and without, and that the reason why I took it out of the current version is because when I first put it up, it had a legal disclaimer. It was then 'Hidden pending Moderation' *even with* the legal disclaimer, barely a day after I put it into PR. So I thought that at least the better written (and more amusing) Mascotry section should go in on its own, and Beer Theft be left out, to form the basis of a future entry, which I should put more thought into. Hence why I hit the 'edit' button pretty sharpish.

I would love to see an entry on Beer Theft (that illegal and drunken phenomenon that is), but until I can find a way to word it so that is doesn't break the House Rules (the other one did seem to teeter on the brink of advocating theft; which was never my intention, but it could be interpreted as such, unfortunately. However, as a result, even I think that in its previous state, it was quite entitled to be moderated...), then I'll write it. As I can't think of how to word it just yet, the Edited Guide will just have to wait until I/someone else can get one done which is fully within the House Rules.

Yep, as it stands, the current entry is a combination of the 'categories' section of Beer Theft and the whole of the original section on 'The Art of Mascotry' combined. And the Sun Tzu quotes were there to gently humour those who *really* take the whole affair very seriously, to the extent of using Cold War-esque language about the rival in question (I know quite a few of these people, most of which are, worryingly, medical students...) Do you have any suggestions on how to make it seem less of two-entries-glued-together-in-a-hurry than it currently does?

Mascotry: Not in any dictionary, but it is a commonly used word by myself and many students (at least in London anyway) to describe the act in the entry. I couldn't find a suitable word to descibe the Art which existed in the dictionary...sorry

Comments, as always, gratefully received!

Stay ,
WD

I'd still like to have each topic covered in an entry of its own (but that's just me ). As the word isn't 'official', how about a short dictionary-like definition then?

And here's the Edited entry on Molotov Cocktails which suffered from the same problem of how to *not* give advice but describe the phenomenon: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A583580 -- Not that I would be trying to compare mascotry with throwing a Molly , but you can take some inspiration from there

Thanks for your support Bossel! I will read the entry with interest....

Changes abound!

>dictionary-esque definition for mascotry

Actually, I need a little help here. Would you class 'mascotry' as a noun or something else? I think it may be a noun, but I'd like to see what others think

All comments, as always, gratefully received!

Stay ,
WD

Hi, Witty Ditty!
I really like the dictionary type of definition. Mascotry is definitely a noun. I think you should add a hence: Mascoteer and Mascoteerage to the definition, since you use Mascoteerage later on.
Azara

Hiya!

Yep, got all those done too:

>mascotry as a noun
>hence mascoteer, and mascoteerage added

All comments, as always, gratefully received!

Stay ,
WD

oy, I lost track of this one!

The disclaimer is there, and all it takes now is to challenge the Italics

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'The Art of Mascotry'.

This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review Forum because your entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

You can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.h2g2.com/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!