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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F48874?thread=4937291&skip=20&show=20 This update of mine has been ready to go since March - any chance of it going through?

I wondered why this was just sitting there. Perhaps a change in procedure is needed and allow scouts to pick 'update' out of PR? At least that way it's put before the Eds.

So we can't pick updates? Sorry, very new to this

As far as I'm aware, no, then again I'm not certain what this new procedure entails.
I'm not a Scout now so I don't know what the full details are for updates on entries.

All the information is here: UpdateForum

It's straightforward. Update goes into PR. Discussion. Week incubation. If all are happy, author removes Update from PR and lets Eds/Curators know Update ready (hence this thread) after incubation. Eds/Curator Updates Entry. Entry goes FP again. Simple really.

Scouts need not be involved at all, unless they wish to contribute in the PR discussion. Hence why any Update that goes into PR has a bloody great sign on it saying UPDATE. So it WON'T get picked by a Scout and cause a horrible mess.

I knew there was a reason why we couldn't pick Updates, but this has been lost in the fog of time

Thanks for the reminder, Matt

Here it is in black and white if others have trouble reading the whole Update Forum page;

"The Update will then incubate in Peer Review for a minimum of seven days, and once the reviewers are happy the entry is 'finished' the chief updater will post to the thread announcing it as such. An Update will not be chosen for inclusion in the Edited Guide by a Scout, like any other Entry, as it is assured that the subject covered by the update already has a place in the Guide!

Once everyone is happy, the chief updater will then remove the Update from Peer Review and post a message with the Subject line entitled;

EF: Update Notification - *insert name of entry here*

at Editorial Feedback including the A-number of their update, the A-number of the entry needing to be updated and a link to the Peer Review thread concerning the Update. A member of the in-house team or a Curator will take that information on board and will then do some final checks in pretty much the same manner as an h2g2 University Project.

It is vital that all editing is done before the entry is accepted for the update, as it will not pass onto a Sub-editor for final proofing like any other Entry that passes through Peer Review. That means that all the punctuation and grammar must be spot on, that links and GuideML be correctly inserted and that - to be quite blunt - the update is perfect.

Finally, a member of the in-house team or a Curator will copy the text, check it for the usual concerns and paste it over the old entry, complete with any new contributors. It will then make its way to the Front Page as any other new Edited Guide entry would."

Scouts probably should just read the second sentence of that first paragraph

Thank you!

Matt, I've added the update forum to my 's for future reference.

So, to cover it in a nutshell, it's the author (chief updater - the one who submits the update to PR) that has to notify the Eds that it's ready for updating. There's no magic Update Fairy, (or a Scout, if you like) to come along and pick it for updating.

It's in your own hands to let people know that something is ready. This was to allow Updates to go through the whole process quicker than originally, as it used to take months.

In Alex's case with his Windows XP Update, it has taken months because he simply didn't drop a line to Editorial Feedback letting the Eds and Curators know that his Entry was ready for Updating. That's why it's taken so long. Sorry to lay the blame wholly at your door Alex, but, well there it is!

Get off your and tell someone it's ready!

Alex can probably tell you exactly what a is, in medical terms.

What, mine or his? They may be two altogether VERY different things. At least I'm hoping they're not one and the same...

Endoscopy, or colonoscopy? That may be the answer

Ah well, thanks for telling me. I'm pretty sure the procedure was different back when I first submitted the update

I don't know, these doctors...

Ah, it was raining when you were ill, so it must have been the rain.

Ah, you had a third arm when you first came in? So it must have been the arm.

The procedure was different back then, so it must have been the procedure.

when I did an update, yonks ago, I was told to put it in PR.

Then when it was in PR I was (rather huffily) told to take it out and put it in some update forum which was dusty and full of cobwebs. I was also (rather huffily) told that I couldn't expect proper front-page exposure with an update (even though it was a complete and thorough re-write of a frankly rubbish entry) but that it would appear in the update box

I got rather huffy myself later seeing other (IMO inferior, but then I will concede that I might be biased) when I saw updates getting their 15 minutes of full on Front Pagedness.


Actually I have nothing to contribute.

As they're only publishing 2 new entries on the FP, there's no reason why they can't promote an Update too, is there?

Becasue it makes me go all grumpy because they didn't do it for me?

Because, even.