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

Entry: DNA Memorial Service - A859485
Author: Researcher 207435 - U207435

Generally interested in what everybody/anybody thinks about this - any help/suggestion greatfully accepted.

Hi Researcher 207435!

Time to click on 'Preferences' and choose a cooler name, methinks!

I think this entry has great potential and for me it was an interesting read.

Usually, entries are made in the third person, although there are some rare exceptions. Having read your entry, I think it would work very well in the third person, with only a few changes needing to be made. have a look at the Writing-Guidelines.

There's also a problem with your having pasted the entry from something on your computer, which throws up stuff like:

was “The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”. T

Go look!

I was particularly interested in the bit at the end about what happened at the service and feel that you might expand a bit for on this.

If you need any help, you can get this by clicking on my name (or any other Researcher's name, but best at this stage to choose an ACE or a Scout).

Stay .

I've just had a look at your space, and found that you are so new that you haven't activated it yet, so no doubt you've no idea what I'm talking about (ACEs and Scouts).

If you write something in your space, a friendly ACE (Assistant Community Editor) will be along to greet you and show you the ropes. You'll find it's a very friendly site and I'm sure you'll meet lots of like-minded people.

How did you get invited to the service?

Entries about Douglas Adams or The Hitchikers books/radio series/tv series aren't usually accepted in the Edited Guide, but I must admit that this is a guideline I've never been entirely happy with. The Writing-Guidelines say this about it:

1. Write About Reality

h2g2 is a guide to life on Earth, not a work of fiction. Feel free to write fiction, but please don't ask us to edit it. We probably won't, especially if it mentions small, furry creatures from Alpha Centauri... or makes gratuitous reference to Douglas Adams and his books.

The reason for this is that we're not a 'fan site', but I really don't see why something *about* Douglas Adams shouldn't be fair game. After all, it's not a work of fiction.

It would need to be re-written in the third person however, (see point 13 in the above link) and I don't see that posing too many problems. I think it's a very worthwhile entry. Well done.

You might want to add the order of service for Douglas' funeral which is given at U42 ...


Tube

Hopefully, this entry can be one of those rare exceptions to the rule! I would hope that this entry could be included in the guide in some form, since while certain aspects of the service were made quite public (like the order of the service, who spoke, etc.), this entry contains unique aspects that the average person didn't get to see, but would be very interested to hear about. I found it a highly intriguing read myself for these reasons. For the most part, it's very well written, too, with only a few changes to be made as mentioned in the posts above. I agree that further elaboration on the Jesus/Ford Prefect thing at the end would be a nice touch.
Very well done, Researcher

Cheers!
Raindawn

Raindawn, how elegantly put! I couldn't agree more.

Oh yes, I too would be interested in that detail.


Now where's Researcher 207435?

Very nice work on your first entry, Researcher!
I agree with almost everything said above. However, I interpret the rule about gratuitous references to DNA to mean that this is a guide to life, not the fictional universe of Hitchhiker's Guide. Since the memorial service actually happened, I see no reason why this in conflict with any of the writing guidelines.

On a more technical note, the weird ” things are probably a paste error from MS Word. If you format your entry in GuideML and replace the ”s with and tags, it should look fine.
(For more info see the <./>GuideML-Clinic</.&gt

-FTF

To reply, just hit the button below:

No further posts from the writer since submitting this entry

Ho hum!

I know it's too early yet start talking about removal from PR to entry/FM, but bearing that in mind, would an entry like this be suitable for the FM? It's a personal account of an event, and I would think that if the first person references were to be re-written in order to make it suitable for the EG, that could prolly only be successfully done by the author. I think it could quite easily go to The Post though

The first person references could be altered by the sub-ed, maybe it should just be picked, unless anyone has any other comments to make?

Tango

I know that the entry can be reworked by a Sub-ed - I'm not referring to its grammatical content, but to the way that feel of the entry would be changed putting it into third person. It's written as a very personal account of an event and contains much that is of the writer's feelings and emotions. That would be very difficult, I think, to translate to third person, and some sentences would have to be simply taken out, which I believe would be to the detriment of the entry.

Haven't we already suggested he submit it as is to agg/gag? I agree, it would also be a nice contribution to . Let's just hope he hasn't forgotton about hootoo...

-FTF(Knows where his is for once!)

You know, I just searched for "a personal" and it came up with a dozen or so editited entries with "a personal perspective" and a few personal accounts.
See <./>http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/Search?searchstring=a+personal&searchtype=goosearch</.>.
We can cite these articles as reasons to reccomend this one.

We do have a number of personal accounts in the Edited Guide though, so all that would need doing is popping in a few and tags to make it fit the house style.

If no one fancies Scouting it, it might make a nice addition to the proposed Hitch-hiker's Uni project...

Some of us don't have picks due at the moment, Jimster!

And some of us do

I'd like to recommend it, but if you think it would be better in the uni project Jims, I'll find another. Is there a link for this project yet, or is it so proposed as to be not yet entered at the admissions office?

I feel it can stand on its own with very minor editing. A link to the order of service as suggested should be added by whoever edits it.

I made a Christmas pick on this one.

Cheers!