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

>>For early entries which are badly written, the Eds would prefer that somebody took on the challenge and re-wrote them rather than just dropping them.<<

But can't they simply be moved to the Flea Market for now, as we'd do with new ones of that type?

I think removing them from the EG would also help new writers - the first entries are the ones people would think of writing first, and if there already is one - no matter how bad - they can't write a new one.

"For early entries which are badly written, the Eds would prefer that somebody took on the challenge and re-wrote them rather than just dropping them."

Fair enough. [It shows that writers unable to think of a topic can search the guide for such entries.]

There's a distinction between ones which were written by employees of the website such as the Old Writing Team, and ones which were written by members of the public. The ones written by employees can be dropped, but ones written by the public are not usually removed because some volunteer took the trouble to write the entry. Until there is something suitable to replace it with, it stays there. And if it is updated, the original author's name is left on the replacement.

Looking at A2211300 and A2211328 (Front Page Archives for May and June 1999) it's clear that a few of the oldest entries have been demoted. Out of those that haven't been:

A53650 "Australia - A Cultural Perspective"
A964 "Tourists"
...have been updated.

A61345 "Tea" is by a familiar author.

A5220 "The Controversy Surrounding the Origins of the Taj Mahal" is of decent length but on an obscure subject.

A60391 "Swing Dancing"
A61967 "Venlo, The Netherlands"
A2007 "Duvets"
...are rather short.

The first edited entry was dated 14 April.
The first re-run sneaks in on 22 June.

One thing that struck me while compiling the pictures for A53308361 is just how ridiculously many celebrity biographies we have Or maybe those were just the ones picked to be illustrated.

These are the entries by the "Old Writing Team" which are still Edited:

<./>MA6292?type=1</.>

I think some of those are credits on updates

Yes, the Old Writing Team wrote them and other people then updated them. I updated the "Tourists" one myself.

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It looks like this conversation has come to a halt. I'll review this thread and Icy's F3719964?thread=5564468 over the summer and create some sort of summary.

It could be because various people got offended or bored and unsubscribed.

Sometimes, it's better to just let sleeping threads lie, I suppose.

I know - hopefully I didn't offend anyone, and hopefully something good will come of it.

*puts thread back to sleep *

I look forward to your summary of the more useful points, though And hopefully, a more useful discussion.

This kind of discussion usually seems to have a natural life span, after which it goes quiet, or sometimes just digresses into territory it wasn't really designed for. A summary and drawing together of conclusions probably isn't a bad idea at this point.

So having read all the back log ''''

I agree the site needs more publicity, and I'll try starting with refrencing entries via Twitter.

I don't think people are put off by things like the Stretcher - it provoked me to shove a piece in when I had no intention of writing, and I ended up educating myself.

Comments in PR don't bother me - but that's because I'm confident in what I write. I know what I can do, I'm a story teller, and I do factual entries as stories, it wouldn't suit a disertation, but it's what I do.

PR cannot be too fluffy - I like it as it is.