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

I've been participating at DP for almost 4 months now (since the /. article was posted in November). I'm trying to average completing one page per day.

When I saw that DP had added the ability to create teams of proofers, I thought I should come here and post to whatever conversations discussed DP or PG. When I found there weren't any I decided to throw this together and then create an H2G2 team at DP, myself.

I hope to hear from more of you over the coming weeks.

Cheers!

Raukodraug

Just found the H2G2 team on DP after Azara left a message which pushed the team name to the top of the topic list.

I've been on DP for a couple of weeks now and since I work odd shifts which let me on in the early morning when there's not too much else to distract me I've got up to Ace rank with just over 300 pages so far. Unfortunately these are all credited to Team UK.

Wildman.

I've only been involved for a few days. I'm afraid I missed the h2g2 entry both in Peer Review and when it hit the Front Page, and it was a mention somewhere else that attracted my attention.

Anyway, I've joined the team, so the 4 members at present appear to be Raukodraug, Azara, Wild(est)man and a mystery member.

My present rank is Proofer, with over 100 pages - far too many of which were in one session where I got really caught up in a very old-fashioned Maria Edgeworth novel.

I hope Raukodraug is lurking somewhere around...

Azara

Yes, I know exactly how it feels.

You get a run of 4 or 5 pages in a row and start to really get into the story and then somebody else signs in and the story jumps.

Wildman

PS Azara, we seem to share more than this interest - I see that you're in the H2G2 team on Grid.org as well.

I am lurking. Real life has cut into my H2G2 time as of late. It's nice to see other people who are interested in this type of thing. I'll update the page immediately.

Raukodraug

It's great that you're still around, Raukodraug! It looks like they have plans on the DP site to add more features to the whole team thing, so as team owner you may have extra powers coming up.

I've now reached the rank of Proofer Savant

Azara

Yeah, me too - It's a crazy title, isn't it?

I preferred Ace! Maybe it's a plot to make you do more pages to get a more sensible title.

Wildman

Is the h2g2 Researchers group still functional or active?

I signed up but it seems like it was one of those great ideas that don't last..

I signed up to DP a few days ago and I don't exactly get how teams work. Is this thing still active? And what exactly does it do?

Hi, echomikeromeo!

The whole team thing on DP was originally just a bit of fun, to encourage sociability (and a bit of competition) among proofers. Later there were teams with specialist proofing interests (like indexing) who used the teams to keep in touch.

The main things a DP team get are a specific discussion thread on the teams forum, and a joint count of pages done (which appeals to the more competitively-minded).

The h2g2 team has been inactive for quite a while--I was a dedicated proofer for a year or two but suffered from burn-out eventually. I still intend to get back in at some point--they've done a big revamp of the rounds system, so it would take a me a little while to get back up to speed. I got a great sense of satisfaction from all the proofing I did, though, and I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in the highways and byways of literature.


Azara

I've enjoyed it hugely, the five days I've been on the site. The four-round system seems to be working fairly well: they have two rounds just for proofing and then two rounds just for formatting, so the proofers don't have to put in formatting tags and can concentrate on the text.

I really enjoy the process, just like I enjoy subbing here, because I might consider going into the world of journalism or publishing when I grow up and I want to have some experience in the system.

Thanks for the info.

Azara, with 12,000 odd pages done your burn-out is quite excusable!

On the other hand I've done about 50 I think, and drifted away. I do intend to get back to it, but I don't have that much time online at the minute.

I like the obscurity of a lot of the texts. For instance, one I was working on was a history of 'priest holes' and hidden passages in old English houses. Then there was some hysterical evangelical piece aiming to save the American working man from alcohol, Satan and Moscow. And even Ben Franklin's farming diaries had some interesting bits! I really should get back to it.

I've actually learned a lot from doing it, as I don't read many old books. It's great to get a feel for the difference in prose style between now and a hundred years ago.

Besides, with people who don't know what DP is about, you can say 'I proof for Project Gutenberg' and they're very impressed. Just like you can say 'I'm a field researcher for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and they get very impressed.

I've been on DP for over a year now, and I keep telling about it in my blog and my journals. And today, I eventually had a look at the h2g2 team Talk over there.

Is anybody of the original members still active on DP?

I'm finally coming back to H2G2... Sadly, I don't think any of those listed are active in DP.

I'm not listed anywhere, but in theory I'm active on DP.