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

I really like this article and think it belongs in the guide.

I don't understand the morality angle, but I am handicapped from not having any shame, myself. I will try to work around that.

I grew up in Northern California, which was settled by health-nuts. It was considered very louche and sinful to sling alcohol around at the (albeit virtual)level that is done 'here'. Gosh, it's so much part of the culture of this site that there was a need to make smileys for them! No one here thinks anything of it, and I certainly don't mind. But, I wouldn't blithely and automatically tell any of my old High School classmates that it's OK for their kids to surf this site-I'd warn them first.

If I had kids, I'd never let them surf at all until I thought they were capable of dealing with stuff like this entry, because even with supervision, it is much too easy to land on something much much nastier.

I've been on this site a good while and I have seen more libertarian (american style)and hedonistic things mentioned in the Edited Guide than this entry. I am even sure that there are some Edited Entries with 'I' in them, even though this is now not OK.

Hi all,

Lilith, ta for the entry, i enjoyed it muchly!

Sea Change, I don't think it's any 'moral' aspect to the piece that is the problem; it's the old problem of 'edited guide style'.

Although this piece works well as a personal piece, and could be especially valuable as one of a number of 'viewpoint' entries on the same subject, the 'edited guide' seems to need titles to be specific and entries to be somehow 'comprehensive' and 'balanced'.

Whilst I and many readers on this site will enjoy this piece and take something from it, that is not really the way pr and the eg seem to function.

As far as 'voting' is concerned, i like the piece, enjoyed reading it, took something from it, and am as unsure whether it should go into the eg as the editors clearly are. FWIW

cya
spiff

In covering its subject it is both witty and inteligent ... wot more would ya want from an entry

Well, i spose mainly it's the title that is not working for me. I agree that it is a witty piece, but i tend to think of the guide as something that you can search and get good info on all kinds of subjects. I guess i wonder whether this is the most helpful title for an eg entry. It works as a run-in to the opening line, but not as a title in a list of search results.

I'm by no means attempting to veto this or in any way 'keep it out' of the guide. I hesitated to post, but there is uncertainty here and i thought i'd add my share of confusion to the issue.

I think that this is another case that calls into question the nature of PR and what *can* and *can't* be 'edited guide entries'. An unresolved and occasionally thorny question.

In the meantime, reading the entry itself and following the thread was most interesting in itself.

so... no solutions from me, then!

cya
spiff

wot should it be called

Well, one possibility would be 'Career Opportunities - Table-top Dancing'

or 'A personal take on table-top dancing'

one of my main worries about the title is as mentioned earlier: simply dancing on tables is *not* what this entry is all about.

One of my euphemisms when enquiring as to how 'wild' an evening was (in my absence) is "Dancing on tables?"

This clearly only suggests drunken, raucous behaviour whereas this entry is about life on the dance 'floor' in a very particular context.

I spose i think it's fine to have personal pieces in the edited guide, but i *would* like them to be distinguishable from the 'encyclopoedia' type pieces directly from the title.

any help?

My take on this is... while the Guide has its myriad spots of well placed humour, subtle in-jokes, and the like, over all, the tone of the Edited Guide is fairly consistent. If you made the Guide into a book (what a big book THAT would be) and read it cover to cover, for the most part, you would have consistency of tone.

This however, in my opinion, doesn't fit into that tone at all. I would even venture to guess that if you took out the many "ok" and "see" bits, it would be a lot more suitable. I even actually like the Alpha Centauri line.

I'm just saying that most of the guide takes a rather... not "formal" but... business casual tone - this takes far less than that.

Just my opinion of course, and you know what they say about opinions

Kate

These are exactly the points mentioned in posting #7 (alpha centauri, 'see', 'ok') and as they are just adressing the style and can easily be changed, my vote is:

Yeah, but, Sir B, Lilith doesn't really want her stuff 'changed'. Does she? He? Anyway, I don't think so.

nahahmeen?

It's these style points that make it such a pleasent read so why change them

Some photos in amongst the text would get this swinging. Even some toons. Isn't there a lap-dancing smiley?

Whatever changes are desired had better be done by the scouts or editors. The authoress is no longer available. She is dying and may very well have expired already.

I fully appreciate that no one here has the least concern for this person identified as Lilith Cookie, however, I know this person quite personally and I am concerned that if this piece ever gets published, I should like her to know about it before she dies. That would mean that whatever you do, you ought to do it expeditiously to give me time to drive the 300 plus miles to where she is currently residing, and I hope still alive, before the inevitable has run its course. I hope that's also perfectly clear although, again, it's quite possible I'll be too late in any event.

If for whatever reasons, you choose to reject the piece, then please be kind enough to get that done as well. Nothing is gained by extending the agony. This interminable glossing ought to have run its course well before now, and it should have been clear from the authoress' post early on that there would be no further input from her and why. Perhaps some edited guide entries on remedial reading and comprehension might be in order I fear.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter and I do hope you all appreciate what a luxury it is to be able to discuss these entries without the least bit of concern for the people who submit them.

You are all to be commended for your consumately civilized behavior and humanity. A hitchhiker while traveling about the galaxy should, after perusing this thread, have no illusions about what sort of treatment he or she is likely to garner from the likes of you. Heaven help him or her if he or she needs a ride or a meal or even a bit of sympathy.

So let me be the first, and I do hope the last, to congratulate you on a jolly good show.

Good day to all. If ignorance is bliss, you must all be ecstatic.

Ooooooo-oooooooo-oooooohhhhh!

Get this entry into the Guide! I vote !

If it's sent to me to sub, I know exactly what changes I'll make:

Spelling, grammar, punctuation, whatever.

The title will change to 'How To Be a Table-Dancer', and the current title will merge into the first sentence.

The Alpha-Centauri paragraph will probably go, and I'll give some serious thought to deleting the explicit specification of 'human' males and females - this isn't sci-fi, and we all know the Guide is written for humans.

Some of the 'ok's and 'see's will come out, but probably not all of them.

I'll add links.



That's all. That's no more work than a subeditor should expect to do on an entry. So it's not *quite* in shape for the EG. It's really close!

Someone scout it again, and get it subbed and edited pronto, so Mr Cortes can make that drive and tell Miss Cookie that we finally came to our senses, or whatever he wants to tell her.

GTB

If it gets a picture added, I vote for a blob to demonstrate how to "strip while hanging from your clenched thighs upsidedown without falling on your head"...

-Lucinda

Oh yes.

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to add a few thoughts...

This entry does have the beginnings of a really good entry. It's an excellent topic, but when dealing with potentially contentious entries I think it's very important for us to do justice to a topic. To present both sides and more importantly to treat it with responsibility. See the entry on

Internet Porn for an example of this A523504. Dancing on tables may be a respectable profession in some places (it looks like lilithcookie is writing as a resident of the US) and a really good way to earn money, but in London it isn't. The places where you can see it are really dodgy. And in Thailand table dancing is thinly veiled prostitution and the women are treated appallingly... Sex tourism is not a great way to earn a living: women are abused, beaten up by clients and pimps and are at risk of stds and unwanted pregnancy.

If we are to take this as a serious entry then there should probably be sections on it on the practical aspects of getting into the business. How do you go about getting your first job? How do you learn the moves? Most importantly how do you stay safe from unwanted advances?

Anna

"Dancing on tables may be a respectable profession in some places..."

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say 'respectable'...

(hmm... no tabledancer smiley)

Ok, I can see that a little more writing ought to go into it, but since the entry is currently in Peer Review, and the author absent, possibly from this mortal coil, how are they going to get made? If we agree to free it up for changes, *I'll* volunteer to adopt it and get it to answer Anna's questions. Oh, the research I could do...

I'm pretty sure I can add a little bit of material, preserving lilitihcookie's style. As for the content, I either already know it (I've had friends/girlfriends in the business) or can find it easily.

Sounds like the changes that have been requested are:

Mention that this entry only applies in places where this is a legal profession, and not a front for prostitution (as such places do exist). Mention that you might work in a seedier part of town. Never having seen table-dancing in London, I can't comment on whether the clubs are any dodgier than they are State-side. That one on Farringdon looked nice enough from the outside, but I was a bit short on cash that day. (We could have an askh2g2 thread to get opinion from different places.)

Talk about how to get a job. (Show up, be female; they'll usually let you try it for a night or three - having to tip out rather heavily - until you decide you want to be put on the schedule.)

How to learn the moves. Lilithcookie mentioned this - you watch and imitate. Stay in shape, and keep that pelvis moving.

How to avoid unwelcome advances. I'll ask around, about how people I've known have dealt with that. Usually the establishments are pretty protective of the girls, but not always. Some places, your boss is just as much a threat as the customers. Like I said, I could do research.


What do people think? Do we want to have some more content added to this so the italics will let it in, or what? It doesn't have to be me! If someone else feels qualified, then step up.


GTB

I also object to the London comments - I know several table dancers who work in London, they make a good living doing a job they like. If Anna is talking about some sleazy east-end dive type club well yeah but if you go work in place like that you would have to be an idiot not to realise wot your getting into but clubs like Stringfellows (as reviewed recently in the Sunday Times) or Sophisticats (as featured in a BBC TV series) or Browns are legal respectable(with-in the bounds of wot were talking about) places - please do not tar all wiv the same brush.

I think the changes that you talk about (GTB) are what's required to get it in and are worth doing. The spirit of the original article will not be lost and it would be nice to see this entry come to some form of closure.

Sprout