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

ooh, good idea!!

I fear I can only speak for AggGag.
So I recommend you contact and h2g2Fiction to get their input.

But yes, give me a few days. And I will give you a short paragraph with links to AggGag's homepage and the AggGag Archives, which you can copy and paste into the final version of UG's homepage.

I will post the A-number when it is ready for your approval.


~jwf~

Right...I've been away for a fortnight because ntl has decided that it's got a thing against BBCi particularly, though if pushed it would prefer not to connect to the internet at all!

What has happened since?

Bggggggr all!

Excellent

Yay, I found the internal capitalisation thread...

had been searching

How about something like:




Come in and pull up a chair. Not that one! It's a chesterfield and prone to disappear at the merest mention of Eddy. Oh, it's gone. There, yes that one. Comfy? Then allow me to introduce you to the Underguide.
Presumably you have arrived here after encountering the Edited Guide, or one of its minions, yes? Well, this is the Underguide. There is a subtle but significant difference.
The Edited Guide (EG) has a well defined "raison d'etre" and a pretty rigid set of guidelines regarding its content. This is not a bad thing, but it doesn't suit everyone. So in the depths of time, a band of like-minded researchers started a process that eventually produced the Underguide or UG and here you are.
What is the UG?
Oh well, in our view, the UG is an integral part of the EG and is modelled on its proven processes for the creation, selection and compilation of material. However there are two key differences.
Firstly, the UG has considerably fewer writing guidelines79% less actually!. So if you want to write, but find the EG guidelines too restrictive, try ours!
Secondly, unlike the EG, editorial control over entries stays largelyEvery entry must comply with the House Rules with the author. The UG has volunteers who help to give UG entries the recognition they deserve and present entries in a form acceptable to the editors, however neither the volunteers nor the editors will change an entry without the approval of the original authorAt least, not unless their life insurance is up to date. We believe that the pen really is mightier than the sword.
Where do I start?
If you want to contribute to the guide, we suggest that you start by writing an entry! Then you can submit it for review and select Underguide Review as your chosen forum. Our volunteers will read your work and then they will either
suggest you submit it to the EG Peer ReviewBecause it meets the EG guidelines
work with you to get your entry in to the UG
recommend an alternative like The Post or AGG/GAG/CAC
suggest another alternativeWe try not to do this, but sometimes an entry is just not ready, so we suggest that either the author goes to the Writing Workshop or sometimes the Flea Market.


If you want to help, perhaps by joining one of our volunteers schemes, then check out our volunteer page.
But this is like the Edited Guide, isn't it?
Yes and no, or perhaps that should be no and yes. We operate in a similar fashion and have a similar structure, but there the similarity ends. We believe that the UG fills a void within h2g2 and caters to the needs of researchers who work outside of the limits of the EG guidelines.
Unfortunately, the only thing that it makes sense to say at this point is, "Share and enjoy"The slogan of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.





Sorry about the DNA in-jokes

If someone could comment on the GML, that would be good I feel like I'm starting to really get the hang of this GML malarky and if its up to scratch could do a bit of polishing!

Perhaps to catch a new wave of interest, your posting above could be published in as an entry called 'The Underguide'. Failing that (for whatever reasons might be forthcoming), someone could establish it on an A-page and <./>AggGag</.>/CAC could promote it with a link and a few of our well worn but well chosen introductory words.

~jwf~

I've already spoken to Shazz about a semiweekly underguide update, appearing the post, but I went to sleep and found that the thread had been hijacked

I like it, Madent, and I think the DNA in-jokes are fine, (but then I get them).

The only thing I am not sure about is when you say that we won't make changes without the author's ok. Can we flip that around to we won't make changes the author disagrees with? If we have to have the author's ok, then we can't publish pieces by Elvis, in any of his talented but brief manifestations here.

Talking of brief manifestations, this is costing me several thousand atarian dollars per minute, because my pay-by-the-month subscription has gone awol, so I won't be around much till it is sorted out, which may not be till early next week.

B

Trust me, there isn't much backlog... I think we were debating me burning lemons....

I'm quite happy to publish regular articles about the progress of UG - especially if you continue to highlight the work of <./>ThePost</.>

shazz

Why thank you Shazz. I think we should have an update for the week after next's edition. This week will be a lot of debate and boring things, plus we're freezing miner applications until the UG Editors are elected, so we wouldn't want to excite potential miners only to find that appplications are frozen.

I'll talk to a few miners and we'll come up with something

Oops - no 'live' edition of <./>ThePost</.> on 5th June, so it will have to wait another week I'm afraid!

shazz

You'll have to excuse my ignorance Shazz, the and the back issues page confused me...

There won'tm be an edition on the 5th of June? Devastating on so many levels...

devasted!

There *will* be an edition, and a mighty fine one, but it won't feature any up-to-the-minute articles. I am in the UK all that week for my daughters wedding.

shazz

Oh, I see, you'e planning it in advance? I suppose we can wait for three weeks, I'll email someone and see if we should do an update next week or the week after the week after next week.