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

I just got home and read through 52 posts of back log on this page. Here's my .

This was actually a good (if sometimes very heated) discussion. While the thread drifted a bit, it was still focused on things that obviously concern folks here.

Now, as far as the discussion about txtspk.... wellll.... to be honest, I think that's just a non issue. No matter who wins the bid process, the core of h2g2 is US. There is an existing culture that is inherent to this site. It's been the source of fierce arguments before. There is an inherent intellectualism to this site. We value literacy. That's at the core of the site. I do not believe that a prospective buyer will want to encourage txtspk just to bring in new users. Even if one did, the existing community would act like white blood cells to minimize that threat. Obviously no one will ever write an EG entry in txtspk anyway. If there are some convos in isolated areas that are txtspk friendly, well that doesn't really bother me either, that's just chatting. I'm not a proponent of strict active moderation. I much prefer a properly monitored version of reactive moderation. Txtspk in context wouldn't bother me at all. But someone who tries to inject txtspk into an inappropriate convo will be alerted to how that clashes with those involved in that convo. We're pretty good at moderating ourselves when given the chance. H2G2 attracts folks because of its high standards. We don't tolerate the type of inane blather one might see in comments on youtube or the like. Most of us come here because we like the higher quality of discussion we find here. Even when it does get a bit heated it is still usually well thought out and expressed compared to other, more "popular" parts of the internet.

The folks that come here day after day do so because it is special, it's "better" than other places.

Yes, no matter who wins the bid, it will change. It will need an influx of newbies. I remember a time when we loved newbies (and there was a running comic here based on the adventures of a newbie). That isn't a bad thing. I'm also sure that there will also be some folks that will leave, and while I don't like that, I know it's inevitable. Change is by definition disrupting. I'll definitely stick around to see how it all shakes out. I'm hoping most of y'all will do likewise.

> the core of h2g2 is US.<

I do hope that's a Freudian typo.

No, It was just capitalization for emphasis. Us, not U.S. If that was confusing, I apologize.

Yeah I realised that after posting, But it's hardly surprising I initially thought that...my Freudian misunderstanding. Twitter, FB, Google, etc are US..and some of us fear that happening here..I do..whatever happens short term to us.

I make no apologies for wanting it to stay English language based as the BBC had it...and also keeping that British based humour and quirkiness that is Hitchhikers.

I have to admit that for very selfish reasons I'd prefer h2g2 to remain purely English. I can't speak any other language, I've tried learning a few over the years, but none seem to gel in my tiny little brain.

Having said that, I can understand why others might want it to not be just in English. I think it needs looking into, as there are often middle grounds (technically) that can be found too.

Nice post CZ.

Re Post 73 - F20154027?thread=8231980&post=109259770#p109259822

Taff - your long posts are SO much more interesting and to the point than your spamming and trolling.

Regarding your question about running the place on a lowish budget, and to add to kea's copy and paste and Z's post - it's no secret we were offered free server space and free bandwidth - it's also no secret that there are folks with a lot of tech skills involved in the bid and other researchers with techy day-jobs available to offer support and advice - finally it's no secret that the Italics have been doing less and less Editing and more and more sorting out Barlesque. What's also public knowledge on site but probably less obvious is that some of the researchers involved in the bid have set up and run small businesses.

So Z is right, we would need income, but we're also in pretty good shape to run a low-cost version of h2g2. It really *could* work!

I want to be absolutely explicit here about what we do and don't know about the bid.

We obviously do know the commercially confidential details of our proposals. Doh!
We don't know the outcome of the bidding process.
We don't know when we will know the outcome of the bidding process.

I do think these conversations are worth having, if only because some people want to have them.

B

Language, eh?
The core of h2g2 is English language and a fair amount of English Humour. I like that.
I can imagine there are some Francophiles (French speaking persons) that would like to see h2g2 in their beloved language. I have no problem with that because I read French only slightly less well than English but I undeerstand that there are many co-Researchers that cannot/do not want to read French.
It has been brought up before, although I cannot remember where, but if there would be enough Volunteers to run a French subsidiary then why not? Perhaps some translations can cross the "language hurdle" and enrich both sides.

more info try here http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F20154027?thread=8232389

I got the impression that the change (back?) to Approved from Edited was because a lot of newbies found the term Edited confusing. After all, anyone can edit their own Entry, why isn't it now an Edited Entry?

I like Researcher because a) it feels more all encompassing to all types of contribution, and b) because it gives the impression that we actually do a lot of research into what we do, which is usually very true. That's not to say that those who choose to write can't also be called writers as well, of course.

I'd also like to keep the term Researcher.

There already is a bit of txtspk around in users' journals and a couple of other places. It's not a problem, is it?

TRiG.

I think when it was the odd word here and there, nobody minded. But in the digibox days, there were times when posts were completely indecipherable, and that was when it became such a bad thing. I'm sure there's a happy medium; probably what we have now, in fact.

I think txtspk has been replaced by lolspk anyway.

They in ur internets, stealin ur buckets lol. kthxbai.

I'd just like to point out that I absolutely *hate* that sort of "speak".

Sorry, curmudgeonly old fart here. Originally it was from file names that could only have a certain amount of characters, so we got rid of vowels. They weren't really needed. Then for text messages when you were limited to a certain amount of characters, they took over the idea. That I didn't mind. But there's no need for it in forums really. I personally just find it lazy

And as for l33t5p33k, for deities sake save us. And now lolspeak? Shoot me. No actually, shoot them.

Rant over, what do I reckon? Well, personal feelings aside, I think that as long as it's *legible*, as long as people can read it, then why not? If it gets to the point where the threads become unreadable by us older, curmudgeonly sods, then I think a quiet "Can we bring this back to 'normal' language" might be needed.

But as I say, there's a lot of personal grumpiness there

I should point out that when I text or tweet, I insist on using full words (unless I really do hit that limit hard) and full punctuation as well. And I completely agree, txtspk should not be tolerated here unless it's in context.

I tolerate text speak as well as I tolerate poor spelling and grammar; as long as I can understand it, that's OK*. The more that's used, the harder it is to understand.



*I might be having a personal hissy fit, but I'll try and keep that away from the keyboard.

I'm strongly in favour of keeping the term Researcher. It is central to the raison d'etre of the site - HHGG (ie DNA's title not the site shorthand/logo) - and what distinguishes h2g2 from the others. No, make that one of *many* things that distinguish h2g2 from the others.

As regards the use of txtspeak, I can see no valid reason for its use here, certainly not in Entries nor even in thread posts. Txtspeak began simply as a means of getting round the limited length of phone text messages. On this site, we are not subject to the same restriction. Txtspeak is fine in the appropriate context, but it is as inappropriate here as it is in examination answer papers.

Approved vs Edited? I can't get in a flap about it either way, so long as there is a clear distinction between what we now call 'Entries' and 'Edited Guide Entries'. After all EGEs have been written, Researcher-edited, Sub-edited and Eds-approved.

I'm with you on all those points.

Yup.