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

Jim, I know I wont be the only one who's so thankful that you're still around, and making the right noises in the right places.



And pass a to Nick, too, would you? Well, it can't hurt....

FM, not sure whether you are still reading this.

I seem to remember the reason for the "shunning", (which I said jokingly, by the way) was that you had decided a new writer's entry was unsuitable even though lots of others felt it was suitable, so you proceeded to insult the entry so thoroughly that the writer withdrew from the site. As I said, you didn't and still don't understand the value of the community.

The crystal thing was different in that the entry concerned was factually wrong.

Hopeful noises from Nick and Chris........................


'Holds Breath!'





GT

*trusts*

*waits*

History is repeating itself.
TRiG has already pointed to and reopened the conversation 'What is the BBC's interest in h2g2'
Any Researcher or Editor should take time off to take a lurk at the this old conversion. Better still read it.
Written at the time of the BBC take over ten years ago it is a reflection of todays situation.
I'm sure Ben and Waz will have no objection to me posting a link here :- F55683?thread=130228

One thing's for certain, I've not seen the site this busy in years! We must have a lot of lurkers.

Yeah it`s great to see so many of the old gang rallying round.

Much credit due to Amy the Paper lady who spent the day sending
e-mails to everyone she`d ever met on h2g2.
Like a modern day Paul Revere.
Great job Amy!


-jwf-

I think you're right there Malabarista. I noticed someone post that they had been lurking for ages, as they were frozen out of their old account. I can't recall which thread it was in, there are so many on the go.

I also remember from somewhere (maybe the MOT) that we have a lot more readers than the members online ever show. When people say there are never more than 50 researchers online, this means a different 50, at different parts of the day, so there are many more people around than we are led to believe.

according to the 'who's online' popup, there are over 1800 people here right now.

So the "just a few people in a small pub" theory is out of the window. Good riddance.

That's the whole of BBC Online. Oh, to have that many member...actually, that might be too many to handle!

It is grand, isn't it. So many familiar faces. Even a couple of newbies who have signed up just to say they don't want the place to go.

that's the whole of the BBC site anhaga, you need to look at this place for those purely on h2g2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/online?thissite=1

Look on Google, it's all over the news. Not surprised there's a lot of people logged in.

(as an aside the NUJ are not helping the modern image of unions by claiming that the staff cuts are an act of contempt by the BBC, where do they propose the BBC gets the money to keep the people on?)

eddies in the WSOGMM and plans seem afoot

Thanks for the info Jim, even if what you can say is limited

Thanks for your post, Jim. It's good to have updates and reassurances - and a person in our corner in RL

And yes... I'm another of the old 'faces' back to give support to h2g2 as a result of the news this week.

I'm hoping that the community can focus on what can be done, rather than on playing all kinds of blame-games and 'what-ifs'. Let's be constructive and open to hearing about different options.

One thing that has always struck me as odd is that whilst the UK-based community has been paying for h2g2 via the licence fee, the rest of us enjoy it for free. I for one would happily pay a subscription.

Fb

It's good to see you back.

Another old face - I have posted intermittently recently but have not been a regular visitor for some years and have not contributed to the EG for even longer. But even though this is no longer the first place I log onto, I do keep coming back, if only to read what others have to say. I found h2g2 just before the BBC took over the reins, and remember the uncertainty back then, as well as the alternative boards which sprang up. It survived that upheaval, I see no reason why it can't survive this one.

Onwards and upwards!

I'm a little late to this party, I see.

I'm pretty much a lapsed Hootoo-er, but even so yesterday's news upset me more than I would have expected - I anticipated something along those lines for years, but the positive vibe about the MOT and the new format kind of lulled me into thinking the place would hang on for a while longer.

Anyway, long and windy thoughts on the situation and h2g2's real prospects:

I don't want to see h2g2 vanish, but I think folk need to get their heads round the fact that if it survives, things are going to have to change in a pretty fundamental way.

The original, pre-BBC (and pre-Facebook and Wikipedia) Hootoo couldn't pay for itself (and this was around the time of the dotcom boom) - there's no reason to expect a new independent version to be any more successful, given the current economic climate. But if the site is going to survive it's going to need *some* kind of source of income.

I appreciate how invested a lot of people are in the guide and the community, simply because h2g2's been around a very long time. And I agree about how unique the place is. But neither of those things helps to make the site any more commercially viable - and it looks like that's the game we're playing (again) now.

The alternative to finding a way to make the site pay for itself is to find somebody else to pay for it without expecting any financial reward. I suppose it's possible that some DNA-loving White Knight will sweep in, but I wouldn't bet on it. I can't see how any publicly-funded body could justify propping it up as an ongoing project, given what a low-profile and minority interest it is - the BBC has more clout than anyone in the UK, and they couldn't justify it. (Sad but true: today's Mail covered the closure of 606 and 'hundreds of other minor websites' but h2g2 wasn't mentioned at all.)

Which leads us to the prospect of the community paying to keep the site running, which I can see being beset with issues. Even big, high-profile things like W*k* and NaNoWriMo have to pitch pretty hard to get the donations they need. A subscription fee would be a massive bar to attracting new people to participate. The result would surely be the community reduced to a slowly-dwindling rump and a long, drawn-out passing for h2g2 as a living entity.

I don't like the way things are, but that's no excuse for hiding from them. I honestly hope to be proven wrong, because - well, this place kept me (close to) sane for years, and I will hate to see it go. But, realistically, I think the fat lady is coming on stage and checking her sheet music.

"So, I'm off for good now, which will please everyone here, by the sound of it. Do me a favour and turn out the lights when you leave, will you all?"



Bye..