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

Sorry if I'm jumping the gun here (the page doesn't look finished to me), but I picked up the A page link off Ben's nickname.

I think this page is overly negative. Yes there are some things (probably many) the IC can't say, but there is alot that can be said. At the moment it's being said in various different threads. I thought the idea was to pull all those questions (answered and unanswered) into one place. In the list I pulled together (not complete) that I gave to Tav, there were answers, good ones, about various things.

Also, I think if you want the community to ask questions, then the place to ask is Ask. Not just linking to here, but having an active thread there where people can easily drop their questions in. The people who will come here to the A page are the ones that make an effort. I think the FAQs need to be put in front of people's noses.

Having a dedicated thread in Ask will create work for someone if you want to compile the Q and As here (a good idea). I'd be willing to help with that as I can.


kea

I agree that a thread in Ask would be a good idea.

It all takes time - this is a place for people to ask Qs which we can then write up Answers for. We're drafting up what we can off site for posting as soon as they're done. I worry about a thread in Ask going off topic and becoming unreadable.

All of that said, any help you can give, such as adding questions to the list for answering, will be very very gratefully accepted.

Happy Nerd and Vip are the best people to speak to about this.

Ben

I'd be happy to start one, but I'd rather wait until the A page is good to go. Is someone going to add links to Magrathea and c2 for instance? I'm thinking about people who turn up in Ask and don't really know what's been going on over there. It'd be good for them to have easy access to the consortium stuff.

Hi Ben, yeah I think there is a bit of thread confusion going on. I've had convos with Tav and HN already about this elsewhere.


>>this is a place for people to ask Qs which we can then write up Answers for.

The danger is that it will be like Magrathea's and miss alot of researchers. I was envisioning a thread on Ask where people could bring their questions, they'd all be in a long list (rather than lots of threads) that could then be compiled here as someone had the time.

I agree about the danger of topic drift, not to mention that feelings seem to still be running high at the moment.

Sorry if I'm stepping on toes here, but how about this for the A page:


This is a compilation of Frequently Asked Questions about the future of h2g2. This list has been compiled by the Interim Committee (aka h2g2c3) [link to relevant consortium page]

Q. What can you tell me?

A. Anything that's not part of the IC community bid to buy h2g2. Most of the bid process and documents are confidential (see below). Please understand that we would dearly love to tell you everything, and it is frustrating to work in secrecy.

We can tell you we wrote extensively online about our intentions as researchers to represent the interests of the community. There are many things already available in the public domain, and some of the ICers are able to answer broader questions.

Please have a look at these documents:

C2 page link
Magrathea link
h2g2c2.co.uk link
googlegroup link


Q. Okay then, what can't you tell me?

A. Pretty nearly anything to do with the bid. This includes legal, financial, operational, and organizational information not published on h2g2, h2g2c2.co.uk, or elsewhere on the Internet.

Q. My question may be one you can answer. May I just ask?

A. Yes, please do. Start a thread below, and if we can answer, we will. If we can't, we'll tell you so.

Hi, kea.

Thanks for your helpful suggestions.

Tavaron sent me a link to the list of questions you compiled. I'm working on answers to these questions, some of which can be answered, and I'll be tucking them into this A-page as soon as I can. As the situation changes, so will this page become more informative.


HN

Thanks for your work on this, and keep any new questions coming.

The page is looking *really* good

Thanks. Let me know if there was something else on the list you think can be answered now.