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

(Can someone explain the LaQuim thing to me?)
(Thanks)
(***B)

LArge Quiet Majority

LArge QUIet Majority

Could also be LaQuiMaj, pronounced La Quimage, sounding like the trendy youth culture suffix "-age" as in "Dude, I caught some major tune-age at that concert last night."

This is just a note to brag about the fact that the h2g2 Eds posted announcements on Zaphodista pages about the masturbation entries being passed -- but they didn't go out of their way to announce it to SBVMs!

Ha ha! My insurgency gets more attention than your (our?) insurgency!

:-p

Favoritism!
{so what else isn't new? }

Everytime I drive to work I pass a large banner at the side of the road. And every time my blood pressure rises and I want to get out and spray paint it over. It says "Never Underestimate a Minority".
It took a while to work out that it was upsetting because it's threatening. The only justification I can see, (so as far as my thoughts have got to date anyway), for a minority to imply that it can force its will on the majority (which is what I take the 'Never Underestimate' to imply) is that it believes it isn't really a minority. That enough of the silent majority are silently, (perhaps as yet unknowingly, perhaps too invested in the opposite point of view to acknowledge it), in agreement with them.

So I object to the M in the SBVM. Unless researchers take the trouble to come and see what it stands for they will assume SBVM members are being vocal about a common issue that they want their way on, (otherwise why bother being vocal), despite the fact that it only has minority support.

Why are you declaring yourselves to be minorities when the separate and several issues you're vocal about you believe would have the support of the silent many if they'd give it some thought, speak up, get involved, whatever...?

Shouldn't it be small, vocal, and hopeful tip of the iceberg?

Just 2p from an icecube.

I think everyone who embraces the phrase "small but vocal minority" and applies it to herself intends it to be ironic.

But if we were to consider it seriously, I'm not sure that all the sbvm would agree that the number of people who oppose the decisions of h2g2 editors or BBC is "small" or necessarily even a "minority." I imagine most researchers have no concern about these pendantic matters. But those who looked into the situation would find some decisions of the BBC or the Italics that they disagreed with. I mean, we see a lot of people congratulating the Italics and each other for the "stability" of the community, or the necessity of BBC restrictions or banning LeKZ. But I think if you surveyed most researchers, those who are not going out of their way to venture into the FEEDBACK areas or protest sections like this one, a truly average sample of researchers would disagree that BBC's restrictions were necessary, and would disagree with some editorial decisions like the UK General Election policy. I'm not sure how most researchers would feel in a general opinion poll about the banning of LeKZ.

Of course, this great, phantom majority of researchers who disagree with the eds (and maybe only exists in my mind) are not as vocal as the sbVm. And I don't think that the majority of h2g2 users feel annoyed enough by BBC or editorial decisions to really take any action about it.

Anyhow, I would interpret your billboard message a little differently. When they threaten "Never underestimate a minority," it doesn't necessarily imply that they are not a minority. The question is whether an admitted but active minority can surprise and overpower an inactive majority. *fingers crossed that the answer is yes* Goliath was strong enough to beat David in battle, but he was asleep on the job, not paying enough attention to David's potential.

Would that be a "coup" if the active minority took control over the inactive majority at h2g2? Doesn't seem like it. I'm trying to say that the majority of researchers have and will use this site without concern for the politics of how it operates. The majority of h2g2 users don't much care whether BBC restrictions remain, whether editorial decisions continue to err on the side of censorship to keep BBC safe from imagined lawsuits, or whether justice is served by one or two researchers getting banned every year. The majority of users will stay here whether they are reduced to a 500 word vocabulary approved by BBC, whether pages are only visible five days out of every month due to the rigorous schedules of the censors, whether a lottery is held to permanently ban ten unlucky researchers each month as a celebration of Entropy, Erisa, Chaos, Bacchus or J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. (Not saying h2g2 is heading in that direction, just giving ridiculous examples for the fun of it.) The power of Douglas Adams compells the Large Quiet Majority to stay, as well as the power of the radio series, the books, the tv show, and the atmosphere that was established at h2g2 before BBC bought it.

So right now, there is one minority in power, one minority in rebellion, and a big mass of people who won't fight for either side because this site is just a hobby or a distraction to them. Which minority regime deserves to rule? Anyone who's vocal thinks s/he knows what's best for the group. This obviously includes vocal supporters of the BBC and the Italics. However, I feel a little less authoritarian because my argument has always been for more democracy. The other side says BBC deserves to use h2g2 any way they want because they paid for it, and democracy is beside the point.

Anybody accusing SBVM of wanting to impose their minority will on a larger group would be pretty silly, especially if that argument were used to defend the handful of authorities at BBC/h2g2 who rule over a community of powerless h2g2 researchers.

sooon

Soon what?

perhaps they felt they needed for "first hand expearence" or needed further reasearch so all popped "away" for more for the updated methods "about the masturbation " or matbe their fingers "still sticky" tend to clog up the key boards, some thing to do with the viscotisy preventing
"announceing it to SBVMs!"

Try again, but this time try for better spelling and some sort of vague logical coherence.

may i sugest a visit to http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/F127493?thread=327052