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

Indeed

shazz

again some one putting Mark in a book.

how flat are you Mark?

42!

Oh on, sorry, it doesn't fit .

OK. I'm not actually a volunteer (at the moment), so don't have a 'feel' for whether going web-based is a good idea in general.

However, having read everyone else's posting, I can see a consensus emerging on the following points:

a)e-mail lists are a useful thing to have for the volunteer groups.
[IMHO, having a web-based forum would serve a different purpose, and it doesn't seem to be one that anyone things is urgently needed]

b)you're not going to get an equivalent service to Y!Groups that's any nicer and cheaper.
[as has been pointed out, completely free services are disappearing, and a small-scale or cut-down version is not suitable for such a large group. On a side note, I'd also like to point out that paying for a service doesn't necessarily stop the ads: another.com now charges an annual subscription; it no longer has popup ads, but still displays a banner on every page as it has done since the beginning of time...]

c)the cheapest and most suitable solution looks likely to be homegrown in some way.
[It has always surprised me that even having been absorbed into BBCi, such an official part of h2g2 is provided by a seperate commercial enterprise. I don't quite understand what the BBC has against running their own list-server, but Pastey's idea of simply developing an open-source service seems ideal. The BBC could probably easily provide the appropriate servers for it to run on for what they would pay for somebody else's service, and they could once again be fostering new and useful technology. I am personally thoroughly in favour of open source as a concept, and as a non-profit organisation, I can't imagine the beeb is exactly against it. This way we could actually contribute to the workings of the Guide themselves, and it seems the basics could be made available almost instantly from Pastey's code.]

So, to summarise my own ramblings:
E-mail:Yes; DNA-based:No; Made to order:Yes; Open source:Yes.

/[being Euro-cents, I suppose]

[IMSoP]

OK. My vote:

Email: Don't mind
DNA-based: Maybe without entries (single page, SSI from DNA 1.01 release?)
Made to Order: Preferably
Open Source: Don't mind; I'm no coder. Beeb may prefer not to, dunno.

Whoami?

F19585?thread=187781

This thread has some ideas that might or might not have been mentioned in *this* thread.

Good link, Mina! I'm involved in both conversations- which can be a bit confusing.

I try to be helpful.

BTW Linda - isn't "domestic boredom" a tautology??

A what?

If that means something rude - I nicked the name from a friend who changed her name on msn to something similar - so don't blame me!

A tautology is using 2 words meaning the same thing - like "reverse backwards"

The opposite is an oxymoron, using contradictory words- like "military intelligence", "cruel kindness" "honest politician" or "working italic"

To illustrate:

When did "business ethics" stop being a tautology and start being an oxymoron??

Aha, thank you! I knew the oxymoron one - well, it was in my subconcious somewhere.

Funnily enough, I have been struggling with domesticity for a while. I should be out partying and being wild and uncontrollable, not making sandwiches, and staying in at weekends. Unbelievable.

Aaah yes, but think how much we would miss you if you suddenly got a social life

That's very sweet. And I do have a social life - but it's on h2g2.

wots a social life

It's that thing that some people have that's not work or h2g2.

Happyude
...you are H2G2 sapien and their social life evoles around H2G2 life