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

Entry: The Number Forty Two (42) - A846434
Author: Terran - U201249

An explination of the obsession that is 42.

Hi Terran,

I'm afraid this isn't really suitable for this forum. Although we take our name from Douglas' work, we're not a fan site (the fan site can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/ ).

If you take a peak at the Writing-Guidelines? You'll see that entries on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy itself are not what we're looking for in terms of the Edited Guide.

You could always submit this to another forum for comment, but in the meantime you should remove this from Peer Review.

Many thanks,

Jimster

Hmm, I'm not sure I agree with you Jimster, surely with a title change to something like 'The importance of the number 42 in the works of DNA' this would then become a factual entry and could be included...

Of course, you're the boss, so I'm not going to get in a heated arguement over the subject

Oh and after very briefly perusing the entry, one note to the author, there's not much point in linking to www.h2g2.com, after all, if you type that address into your browser, you'll find yourself back here... h2g2.com was the original address for this site before the BBC bought it... and the last I heard, the URL was actually owned by Jim Lynn and redirects you straight here.

Before I remove this I would like to make one last plea for this to be entered. No part of this is fictional. It talks about fiction, it talks about what people actually do, and have done. It would be ironic if the site called h2g2, is the only one that actually doesn't want to talk about it . Surely people who want to know more about The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy would find this article insightful. I am willing to alter it to make it more factual, but please don't throw this out because it uses the deadly number 42. I am not going to push this, as you are the boss and you decide what goes in here, but I would like a good explination (as I'm sure a number of people would), why a factual article like this couldn't be entered. By factual I mean as factual as other edited articles which are talking about television programmes (i.e Star Trek, which is just as cult based). I will leave it in your hands. If you tell me again to take it out, I will respect your wishes (though fail to understand them), and will remove this article.

Thank you,
Steven

Hi Steven,

I know this must seem odd at first, the real-life version of DNA's book not wanting to talk about the fictional version, but there is a very sound reason for this. We are, as I mentioned earlier, not a fan site, but because of the name of the site we do get plenty of entries *about* HHGTTG, which is alienating for visitors here who are not fans.

With regards to this entry, it would appear to consist of two unequal parts: The lesser part - which is much more suitable for the Edited Guide - is the second paragraph where you discuss where numbers come from and how they've developed. Unfortunately, this isn't enough on its own to make a suitable entry, and besides which, we already have a rather sound entry on the History of Numbers (A385689) in the Edited Guide.

The greater part of the entry is simply a retelling of the book 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' with a tag that explains why 42 is significant to fans of the book. Yes, it's factual, but it's not all that original; it's one of the most regularly queried and quoted elements of the books after all, so you're not really telling us anything other than '42 was a number DNA picked at random for comic effect as part of his book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.

To be fair, it's not just because this is about Douglas's work either. If an entry on Star Trek is submitted, it would still have to offer a substantial amount of research rather than simply retell a story and explain what it was about.

However, just because this isn't suitable for the *Edited* Guide, it does still exist as part of the unedited Guide and will still pop up in searches through the BBCi search engine, so hopefully this will still explain to HHGTTG virgins what '42' is all about.

I hope this helps in clearing up any confusion you might have, but if it doesn't, please don't hesitate to ask.

Regards,

Jimster

Thanks for the reply. I do understand bit more now why you didn't want his in the guide. I'll move it out of peer review.

Jimster - considoring what u said in your last post, i'd like to ask u someting:

what makes A18541 suitable to be in the edited guide?

spook

Hi spook, thanks for bringing it up.

As you can see, this is a very old entry. In the old days, before Peer Review was just a twinkle in h2g2's eyes, Researchers could write anything, hit the submit button and it'd end up in Mark Moxon's increasingly unweildy in-box. And a massive proportion of those submissions just said 'Earth - mostly harmless'.

The entry you've linked to there was created to prevent people from doing just that and also as a concession to the Hitchhiker fans who were confused that the single most famous entry from the fictional guide didn't appear in the real one. But you'll notice that entry does link to a superb 'proper' Edited Guide Entry written by J'au-æmne as part of the updating process.

Regards,

Jims

On the subject of suitable entries - A68555 . If this is suitable, and mine is not then why not put a link on the "42" to my entry. At least it will be a bit more informative. Please

That too was put in as a 'catch-all' for people posting '42' all the time.

I think the difference here is that one is to replace an HHGTTG in-joke with a well-researched, factual entry about a subject people might search for. The other is proposed as the replacement of one in-joke with another - one that would surely only pop up in a search engine if people already knew its significance.

If anyone does ask about the significance of 42 in a Conversation, you can still point them to your page though.

Jimster

i undertand that in the ld days, the earth entry and 42 entry were created to stop other people from submitting the same thing over and over. however, now that h2g2 has evolved from such stupid entries, i feel their edited status should be removed, as they do not meet the writing guide-lines, or fufill the point of the guide. the motly harmless entry should have a title change to 'Earth', and should be the proper Earth entry. The 42 entry should just e plain rmoved, as it does not provide a serious answer, and does not even explain the answer that is already there.

these stupid joke entries make a mockery of the edited guide. the 42 entry here written by terran may not be sitable fo the edited guide, but it is a lot more suitable then what is already there.

i'd like to make a plea, to all italics:

the joke entries on h2g2 from the early days make a mockery of h2g2, and i would like, and am willing to protest for, their removal from the edited guide, as they are no longer suitable.

and, of course, as i'm sure some people will know, i don't give up on something i believe in.

spook *looks forward to the reply from jimster and any other italics.*

"and, of course, as i'm sure some people will know, i don't give up on something i believe in."

yes I vaguely remember. *Thinks back to numerous conversations where spook showed he would have made a great first world war general*

Jimster : While I don't necesarily agree with spook, I do think to leave the article as it is with just 42 is pointless. The reason I suggested putting a link to my article, is I have failed to find one with as much relevance to the number. And it would at least give the hhgttg fans on here somewhere to look at. It doesn't have to be in the edited guide surely to have a link to it. I have seen numerous edited guide entries with links outside the edited guide. I have no problem pointing people to my page (have already done so a few times), but my entry is factual (in the sense of a TV series explination). At least, if you don't think it serious enough, I give you permission to take it in and make it how you think a link from the number 42 should look like. At least think about it.

Terran

terran - edited entries aren't mean tot link to unedited entries, as unedited entries can be changed making the link take u to something useless.

the thing is, your entry deals with 42, but the edited entry in question is the answer to life, the universe, and everything, and ofr an entry suc as that, there should be a number of different possibilities, reasons, explanations etc, of which 42 could be on, but it would have to be explained. the entry there a the moment does not provide any useful information and hs taken away a possible title someone else may have wanted to use for a serious edited entry.

terran - with your entry, although i have only scanned it, u have put some good info there i think. i have begun writing an entry on the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy TV series and in it i will explain some of the things in it such as 42, so i was wondering if u'd mind if i used some of the material here in that entry, and added your number to the researcher list.

what do u think?

spook - world war one general waiting for answers from both terran and jumster

Here's the Catch, um, 42 situation.

Firstly, for h2g2 Edited Guide Entries, we only allow links to other Edited Guide Entries, so we can't link to your unedited entry.

Personally, I agree with you - these entries are not of the standards of the current Edited Guide. *However*, when attempts were made in the past to declassify them, there was outrage from many of the longer-standing Researchers. As I understand it, the reason these two entries still exist is to illustrate the history of the Edited Guide and the way it has evolved while also appeasing HHGTTG fans.

But I've had a chat with the rest of the team and it's been suggested that there is a way we would be happy to accept an entry on this subject into the Guide.

As it stands, the entry is very HHGTTG-centric, whereas the significance of 42 to HHGTTG could be summed up as:

'Douglas Adams chose the number 42 as a humourous answer to a mythical question of LIfe, the Universe and Everything for his book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.'

But what we would like to see is an entry on how this 'cult of 42' has led people to discover instances of 42 elsewhere in life. Douglas himself stumbled across the number because he had realised how it's a number that pops up everywhere. For instance, Tower 42 - the NatWest Tower in the City of London (see A604216); the band Level 42, who chose their name after seeing it on a sign in a car park; check out Sea's entry A697845, which takes a look at the many instances of 42 in real life. If an entry was submitted that more reflected the Editorial standards of the Edited Guide (maybe taking advice from the rest of the Comunity), then we suspect we'd be more inclined to accept it.

I can see where you're coming from with this discussion, and indeed this discussion has encouraged us to look again at that one guideline. We're still wary of encouraging people to just write about five books all the time, but we're now working on a project which might well appease the fans and maintain the standards... and it's a project we might be able to invite you both to take part in if you fancy.

Can't say more for now as it's really early days, but in the meantime, if you fancy discussing a potential rewrite of this, drop me a line here

Jims

may i suggest a title update then. if the 42 entry, for the moment, is definately gonna stay in, then may i suggest this title change:

Previous:

The Answer To The Ultimate Question Of Life, The Universe, And Everything

Update to:

The Answer To The Ultimate Question Of Life, The Universe, And Everything According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

also, for that entry, remove the fullstop after 42 as since 42 is just a number it does not need a fullstop at the end like it is the end of a sentence.

also, may i suggest for the Earth entry u change the title to:

Earth According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


this project inetrests me, so please imform me of new information about it when it develops.

these are my re-writes - what do u think?

spook

Spook : Um...not all guide entries have titles which are that specific, but I see where your coming from. I would be curious to hear more about your entry, and maybe we can work on it together.

Jimster : Yes I would be interested to hear more about the project, and would love to be involved. As far as "this" article is concerned, I have no problems doing a rewrite (other than time restraints), and I would welcome any people who would like to help me make it better.

Terran