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

It does seem odd that the initial announcement said we were being sold but all their press releases talk of the 'possible' sale, as if they've got something up their sleeve that they aren't saying. I think the 'print as a requirement for legality' thing is probably right here. The sooner we can get an application in the better.

Oh, and yes Bob, that's exactly what I was wondering. That's if it IS just about meeting the cuts requirement...

Radox. I think that's wishful thinking there. The ad says amongst other things:

Any new owner will also be expected to move the site onto a technical platform which is independent from BBC Online.

So whatever happens, this does NOT sound like the option you mentioned earlier.

I rather suspect that the alternative in the 2possible" scenario is that they do not find a buyer and the close hootoo....

Hope I am wrong.

FB

I hope so, too, but it's what I think, too.

Yes, I can understand that if it was just a straight sale Bel, but I was wondering of they would be up for the idea of a public/private partnership. Nobody would expect them to offer server space to a normal buyer but they've done joint ventures before. They just might not have initially considered it given their remit to make the cuts imposed on them by the government.

In Bristol when they built the underground car park for the @Bristol complex, the local council provided the staff to man the place. The agreement was their wages would be paid by the council but reimbursed by the private company.

I can't really see why they wouldn't consider it if all of the costs were covered by the private partner. I have to say though, the only people who would ever be interested in such an agreement are us hootooers. Anyone looking to develop the site would want full ownership. It might be best for a community bid too, come to that.

Why do people keep thinking they would close the site? They would have to receive no offers at all (including the community bid) to be able to justify that to the licence payers. It would be tantamount to career suicide.

Radox, I'm giving that post .

or 4 badgers, whichever you prefer.

If forced to choose between towels and badgers, I would go with towels. I can dependably count on towels to dry me off after a long swim or a short shower, but no badger has *ever* stepped forward to help me get dry.

Anyway, I like a lot of what I've been seeing in the Consortium's development of a plan for H2G2. We may find support we didn'tknow existed.

they probably only put it in the printed edition because they are legally obliged to advertise its for sale, even if they have a buyer lined up, nice little add, ltd. exposure, only a month to put a bit in, got to be a push to get a bid together in that time, if you didn't know this was coming

We have no way of knowing who is interested. That's probably just as well, because we can only deal with what we do know.

The funny thing is, a fairly large portion of the world is wired. Things go "viral" at great speed. Facebook is said to have half a billion customers, and they seem to spread news pretty fast. Google helps, too. Maybe if you do a Google search for cool websites for sale, H2G2 pops up.

Let me try posting this, since Google indexes this site.

Are there are any cool websites for sale?

Okay, when I search with the search term "h2g2 is for sale," Google directs the searcher to this very thread.

but no badger has *ever* stepped forward to help me get dry. but they make great shaving brushes,.....

This site has no value without the researchers. And its main value is to the researchers.

I agree with you about the former, devonseaglass, but I am beginning to wonder if we have more readers and friends that we know about.

How can we know?

We can't, but the rush of support on the day of the announcement was encouraging.

And yet still no word from
the real life Darth Zaphod,
aka Richard Branson,
shaking his golden locks
and tossing cash.


~jwf~

he has locks made of gold?

isnt that rather insecure?

Course not - they're locked.