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

Before registering with h2g2 in April (2003) I spent some time wandering around looking at various articles and user pages, especially those chained off the help pages. It seemed a sensible thing to do and, after registering, I revisited some of them. One of them, which I'd viewed minutes earlier, now had a message saying "Please feel free to wander round my space Kemlo and say hello if you like".

I assumed that I had been spotted by the owner and the page had been updated as I watched. It was an incredibly spooky experience being 'spoken' to, when I thought I was lurking alone, and only minutes after logging in for the first time!

A few days later, I happened across another personal Space with a very similar message, which seemed like too much of a coincidence to me. The fact that both of the users were ACEs made me even more suspicious. I realised that there must be some code on the page that was recognising visitors and - as I now had a nickname - it had sent me the 'personal' message. I really should have cottoned on to that earlier, having started my career as a programmer!

I thought other newbies might find this tale useful, so here it is: my first journal entry