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

lovely. My first visit to site and a real inspiration. Keep writing

Hi there, useless hound!

I want to thank you for Moby Dick and the Marble Arch. A wonderful piece of writing.

I see you are a newbie; but you've already figured out how to create a nickname, posted a truly entertaining entry about whales and wet men and had the sensitivity and courtesy to comment favourably to the author(ess?) Perditax of the Bar Stools and Shingled Women piece. And you also submitted your entry to Peer Review. That last step is sometimes akin to the primal footfall treading fears of angels.

Next thing you should do is create a self-introducing entry for your h2g 'personal space' homepage. Somehow after reading about Ayers Rock and the Chunnel I feel I already know more than enough about you, but that is not the point; the point is that you should 'activate' your homepage as soon as possible.

Do this by hitting the 'edit page' button and typing even a single keystroke into the dialog box that appears. Then hit the 'submit' (on subsequent edits it will say 'Update') introduction button. You don't have to tell nobody nothing; and yes you do have the 'write' to remain silent; but at least put the words 'Hi its me' or 'grunt' or something...

...because, until your page is thus 'activated', others cannot post 'replies' to it. There are no 'Reply' buttons until you put something there. The first 'reply' will probably be from an "Ace", those volunteers dedicated to making you feel welcome and showing you the ropes. But until your homepage is activated they won't know you exist and even if they did they can't post to an inactive homepage.

Trying to reach you via another conversation thread as I am am doing here is not part of their prgramming. I am not an ACE, just an appreciative reader, who hopes you will notice that your posting to Perditax's entry has been 'replied' to (here, by me) and that you will be reading this.

I represent <./>AggGag</.>-CAC and I wanted to help you avoid possible confusion or hurtfullness that might come out of any replies to your Peer Review submission. And to assure you that no matter how cruel and insensitive some of the comments from other researchers may become, your beautifully (or brilliantly, choose one but not both) written piece can (and will) find a home at <./>AggGag</.>-CAC.

And thanks for bringing Perditax and her writing to our attention. This site is huge, and so many good entries and so many potential online friends get ignored or overlooked or just simply lost in the shuffle...


~jwf~ for <./>AggGag</.>-CAC

And of course Perditax should follow the same advice, although she does seem to be engaging successfully in all sorts of conversation threads without allowing anyone to speak directly to her thru her homepage...

Hmmm.....

peace
~jwf~

Wow. Feel duly humbled. This site could become addictive. Off to my day job now. Will try and figure out the 'my space' confusion over the next half century, but not good with cyber space. Thank you for your encouragement and glad you too enjoyed the bars stools etc...made me chuckle.

I realise you don't think you asked for any more advice but here it is:

Addiction and humility are two of the strongest ingredients in the duck soup they serve around here.

To get some idea of things other 'new researchers' are doing for their first time homepage click on this link:
<./>info</.>
It may take a while to load. Among other things this wonderful page of statistics lists:

- Researchers with the 10 most posts in the past 24 hours
- Researchers with the 10 longest posts in the past 24 hours
- the 20 most recently updated conversations
- the 20 most recently created entries

You can visit any of them just by clicking on it in the listing. That last group is where every new entry is listed until 20 more are created. This way you can sample a variety of new entries fresh from the oven. Many will be first time introduction pages from new researchers which usually start, "Hi it's me..." or something equally predictable and unexciting. Of course it can always be revised and updated (quite unlike the 'Journal' section of your homepage which does become an uneditable 'permanent record' so don't say anything there you don't want God to see later).

The important thing is to get your page opened up so the ACES can bring you more exciting tips like that handy <./>info</.> link and other advice for 'beginners'. As you are already aware, it's not so much a learning curve as a slippery slope to addiction and humiliation. Only about 1 in 10 new researchers survive more than a week.

peace
~jwf~

Great. Thanks

where has perdita gone? I see her splendid piece is in review...it surely deserves a place on the front page at least. Perhaps she has read the fine copyright print...just send in stuff for fun Perdita, keep the 'wannabee' published stuff for your rejection slip collage.
consider h2g2 therapy!
Take care
Boots

Yeah a lotta people come and go. And a lot really do get scared off by the rules for the edited guide, not realising there is plenty of room for 'other stuff' round here. Others are used to instant messaging or more fast paced chat rooms and they don't have the patience to deal with h2g2s more extended realities.

Glad you popped by, I hadn't really noticed your name lately, at least not anywhere that I've been posting or reading for the past week or so, and I'd begun to wonder if you too had wandered off.

Probably you've been travelling in circles I haven't found yet. It's important to maintain a presence round here, in as many circles as possible. There are backwaters and semi-secret societies and other 'groups' but the main public areas I know about are (including <./>AggGag</.>/CAC) and the hundreds of "Ask h2g2" conversations @ A148907.

Have you written anything new that you'd like promoted?

peace
~jwf~

Hi Peace. No I've been here in the background. Last week was a tad busy on the day job front...now there's a clue! Also thought I should really knuckle down to some painful writing as opposed to the h2g2 therapy variety...the ensuing result was letter to a publisher zapped off at great speed on wed night and amazingly picked up by shazz for Thursday's post...that girl works hard. Sorry to see the likes of Perdita moving on...but the bbc copyright on the site does pose a dilema. My morals solved it very quickly 'send in ego soothing or tear it apart I don't care anyway...much, stuff to h2g2 and continue with my pension fund war on Publishers.' Managed 14000 words in the past two weeks...words words words you've got the picture. Actually SPOKE to a publisher who obviously had a temporary lapse in the letting aspiring writers get past the rottweiler receptionist philosophy, and agreed to read...now awaiting the familiar post thud to the floor! Liked the 'to whom it concerns' by the way. In fact like most of the 'to whom it concerns' but then probably warped!
Take care
Boots