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

Entry: Stuff They Never Tell You About Living in London (the rebuttal to Stuff They Never Tell You About Living in Barbados) - A1107442
Author: Researcher 234359 - U234359

I was on this site yesterday, Friday July 11th and saw the entry called "Stuff They Don't tell you About Living in Barbados". I found it was not very well researched and biased, so I proceeded to write my own version called "Stuff They Don't Tell You About Living in London".

I hope you enjoy reading it.

Bajan Cutie

A few points:

1) the entry: "Stuff They Don’t Tell You About Living in Barbados" is no longer in the Edited Guide, so people reading a 'rebuttal' may be a might confused when they can't find the entry you're obviously so upset about.

2) I think the 'Golden Rule' comes into play here -- you obviously found it upsetting to have an entry like this written about where you live, so I'm not sure why you thought you would improve people's opinions by intentionally trying to upset others.

3) I'd suggest you read the Writing-Guidelines -- one of the things they make clear is that the Edited Guide is not a forum for opinion pieces, which this clearly is. If you're interested in writing a factual, researched piece about London or Barbados, or about the interaction between the two cultures, that might be something people would be interested in seeing here.

4) The Edited Guide is also not the appropriate forum for debates, rebuttals, etc., to begin with. If you spend some time exploring h2g2, you might see some other places better suited to your efforts -- it's theoretically possible that you might be able to interest someone at the h2g2 post in your entry, or the Alternative Writing Workshop.


Mikey

you wrote "London is the most expensive country in Europe"
london is a city not a country

I am sure I saidcity, but i will check again.

and "among the first ten" should perhaps say the top ten

Researcher 234359, have you taken on board anything that Mikey said above? If you have no plans to rewrite this entry so that it meets the Writing-Guidelines, then it can't be picked for the Edited Guide - if you're serious about wanting to get this into the Edited Guide then it's worth clicking on the link and reading the guidelines.

If you remove all the first person opinion-based references, and edit the article so you're just talking about London (and not comparing it to Barbados, or what was said in the article that annoyed you) then I think there's the basis for a very good Edited Guide entry here.

As someone else who came to live in London, I agree with a lot of what you say - although I think there are also great things about London that they don't tell you. Perhaps you could change the title to something like 'The Down Side of Living in London' or else add some positive stuff about London that They Never Tell You. If you're going to be wholly negative, you may as well be explicit about it in the title - I know the article that upset you didn't do that, but you want to be better than that, right? - and someone reading the article expecting to be told exciting and interesting things that they didn't know about London would go away very disappointed, like you did with the other article.

However, if you don't want to change the article to meet the guidelines, it'll still be part of the guide per se, anyone searching for guide entries for 'London' will find it, and you'll have had your say.

But you write well and we're always looking for Edited-Guide suitable entries from new researchers, so if you'd consider changing this article to meet the guidelines, that'd be most welcome. Or perhaps you'd like to consider writing another article about a subject that interests you - maybe a better guide to Barbados or living there?

Let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Number Six

HI Number Six,

I have to admit that I did not navigate the site and read all of the rules and regulations as thogourly as I should have. When I wrote this piece, I intended it to be a comparative piece about the one done on Barbados. I used the same title as that one (just replaced Baarbados with London) and I used the same sub-headings.

I was trying to make the point, that this person, from London had all these negative things to say about Barbados, but the same thing s/he were critical about where Barbados was concerned, could be said about London. I did not know that the article about Barbados was no longer posted, as I received the link for h2g2 and when i click on it the article about Barbados came up.

I do agree that there are some positive things about London, as i am still living here, but the piece was just written to show the writer that every country and indeed city has its faults.

I am however interested in continuing to write for h2g2, and would be happy to receive more information on the site.

BajanCutie

Well, you've written something on your Personal Space which means that it's become active, and I see that one of h2g2's ACEs has left you a message - that's a start

This has become a very big place recently with many new Researchers joining up so it may take a while for you find your way around - your ACE will be able to help you with any questions you have by either answering them or pointing you to the right place for the answer.

There are two sides to h2g2 - the community and The Guide. Most people are only involved with the community, but h2g2 was primarily set up so that people could contribute to The Guide. This page <./>DontPanic</.>, and particularly the 'All About h2g2' section which you'll find here <./>DontPanic-FAQ</.> will explain much about this site that you may be wondering about


Scout

Thanks Scout. Was really nice of you.

Actually my name's Gosho - everyone's name is shown just above the text of the post - Scout is what I am here. So are Number Six and Mikey the Humming Mouse If you click on Scout you'll find out what we do here.


Scout

Hi Gosho,

my apologies as I saw that this is your name after I click send.

Hi number six, i've just been reading and just wanted you to know that I didn't want my article to be entered as an edited entry guide. I think I must have made a mistake along the way when i posted it. It was just meant to be a response to the article about Barbados.

In that case, could you remove ot from Peer Review? You do that clicking here PeerReview and finding your entry (it should be near the top since it's getting some recent postings). Next to it you should see either an 'x' or the word 'Remove'. Click on that and it'll be taken out of PR.

On the other hand, it has been said earlier that with some rewriting, this could be a very good entry about the downside of living in London. The people who regularly post here in Peer Review could help you with that - for instance, I lived there for most of my first 43 years until I moved to America four years ago. I often think that I'd like to live there again, but there are too many bad things about it - the traffic, the expense, the noise, the pace - to persuade me to go back unless I'm earning at least £70,000 a year (ain't gonna happen)


Scout

Hi Gosho, me again, sorry to be a bother. i will remove it from peer review as you suggested, however, will it still remain posted as it is if i do this?

I don't really have any intention of posting something on the down side of living in London. I think it would be a bit hypocritical of me since I am pursing my career and dreams here. That article I wrote was just meant to show the person who wrote the one about Barbados that everything s/he faulted Barbados on could also be said about London so it was a bit two faced to pull down one country on the same faults their county has. However, I am open to writing articles in the future as i am in journalism and would be more than happy to get involved.

Your entry won't be deleted Bajan Cutie, it'll just be removed from the Peer Review forum and this conversation will appear at the bottom of the entry, as will all other conversations concerning your entry, which is why it's always a good idea to scroll down to the bottom of any entry you create and find the link which says 'Click here to be notified of new conversations about this entry' - that way if anyone starts a new conversation about your entry it will automatically appear in the list of conversations on your Personal Space.


Scout