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

Entry: A Focus on Friendship - A889969
Author: Sovereign - U206089

Right folks !

My second guide entry. I decided to write about friendships this time. Most of what I have written is from personal experience, observation and bits and pieces I have picked off others over the years. Please remember that we all have different opinions on how we view people and society in general and they will differ from person to person. I've tried to keep it as general and factual as possible. Enjoy !

- Sovereign

Hi Sovereign,

nice entry - well written and interesting.

Quite a difficult subject to produce a 'definitive' entry on, as i think you realise. But you give here is some good advice in a friendly approachable form.

This may sound like an odd point, but i just thought it was a bit of a shame that of your three paras describing types of friends, so much weight was given to false friends.

I'd have thought there was a bit more to say on the first two, and maybe have another look at 'False Friends' and think about how you want to present what you have to say.

these are just my thoughts, of course, supplied with a complimentary pinch of salt,

Well, good luck with this one,
it's a subject that i personally don't really associate with the EG, but I think the quality of writing is there, and don't really know what *is* and *isn't* guide material, so let's wait and see,

cya
spiff

A couple of quick things about material suitable for the edited guide.
They need to follow the Writing-Guidelines, which means that they should be written in the third person, and there is quite a lot of first person in this entry.

They also can't link to unedited entries, so the last two will have to go.

The structure looks fine. Too at present to look at the content in detail. It has the makings of a good entry, I think, although it may need some expansion.

I agree with Zarquon.

You'll need to edit it so it's in the third person before it can be considered for the Edited Guide.

I've got my eye on this one!

I think with a topic like this you need to be very, very careful about generalising, perhaps from your own experience.

For instance, you start by saying 'We all have friends in one form or another'. But some people don't have any friends, in any 'form'.

Also, your categorisation of generic friends, best friends, etc, seems to be your personal approach and not everyone will categorise friends in that way - or at all.

Be careful about talking about 'most people'. You don't know most people.

'Good sense of humour' means all sorts of different things to different people, if it means anything at all, which I doubt. Think about that. Sometimes people who cry together can be closer than people who laugh together. Sometimes a person who has had a hard time of it in the past is better able to 'empathise' with someone else who's had a tough time too, albeit in different circumstances. Sometimes people want to be friends because they feel sorry for someone, which is not the same as feeling friendly because you have been there too.

How about being supportive as a basis for friendship? That could be a one-way thing or mutual support.

This is an excellent topic for an entry, but is worth treating in a fairly deep way.

Seasonal Greetings Folks !

Yeah, I have made some errors on this one. I will take a look at expanding and correcting the entry over the next few weeks since I have a number of personal problems to sort out first. As always, your comments are very important to me and as you all know, this is from my experience so it may not agree with everyone else's viewpoints.

Once again, thanx for the support.

Best wishes,

Sovereign (Enterprise-E)

Still planning on working on this one, Sovereign?

No posting from Sovereign since 5 January on the home page. Looks as if AWOL.

Well, if the entry's about ready to go, except for the first person references, it could be picked by a Scout and have the sub tweak the perspective.

Cheers!

Personally, I think it's more than just the first person grammar -- I think, like a previous poster pointed out, that it's a first person bias -- the entry seems to be assuming that all friendships are like the ones the author experienced.

I think the entry has improved quite a lot since it started, but the personal bias is still an issue.

Just my 2

Mikey

Ok, this author appears to have left the building, last posting on the 5th of Jan, so I'll move that we move this out to the <./>FleaMarket</.>. Any one concur?

Seconded

By the way, it's Writing-FleaMarket

RhoMuNuQ

Ok, I'll post to the mailing list in ten or so minutes, to give others a change to second.

spelugx -- <./>scout</.>ing again

Sorry folks, I've been away for some time unfortunately. Personally, many things have happened over the course of last year that have taken the better part of this year to sort out. I would have loved to have updated the article with corrections and a more 'researched' approach to my explanations. Your comments have been welcome and I'll just have to see for now if I create any more articles. But for now, best wishes to everyone.