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

There's a feeling that not enough people around these parts don't do enough for the Edited Guide. Seeing as that's the only reason h2g2 actually exists, if people don't step up to the plate (see: F19585?thread=4748307) we could all be out on our ears sooner rather than later.

I've had a quick look through the PS' of the miscreants of MiscChat, and it appears that almost half of you have a grand total of 0 edited guide entries.

Why not? Is there a reason that you aren't living up to the title of "Researcher"? Do you need help? Ideas? A prod in the buttock?

I'm interested in all of your responses.

Well it seems people are wary of posting here ..... so I'll start it.

I'm guilty of procrastination .....

I will finish the entries currently brewing on my PS this week, and that's a promise.

Sometimes I just need a short sharp shock to get me going again.


Anybody else out there ........

"I'm guilty of procrastination."

Aren't we all! I was going to finish an entry on my break. Then I got caught up doing some work and I'm out of time!

Things more interesting than saving h2g2:

Random Song Lyrics
What's Just Happened?
What's Going On Outside Your Window

Well that's why I've been posting in some conversation threads .... because if the Guide goes, I suspect all those interesting conversations will too.

Psycorp, do you have a big bushy moustache and a piercing stare by any chance?

I have 0 edited entries. I've started a few but am rubbish at finishing things. Something to do with a short, thingy, attention span and the fact that I come on here mainly when I'm at "w*rk" which has limited internet access and therefore makes researching things hard.

I read the step up thread but must have missed the bit about hootoo actually being in danger. I shall finish my Mexican jumping beans entry post haste.

Partly writers' block, partly lack of inspiration, partly my 10-month old little boy, partly jobhunting.

Some of that means that I don't currently have time to write entries, and some of it means that I don't seem to be finishing the entries I manage to find the time to start writing.

Mind you, while I was out shopping earlier, I saw a stand for Children in Need merchandise, and that passed through my mind as a possible subject for an entry - if it hasn't been done already, of course.


Geggs

I do sympathise guys, my workrate on h2g2 has been affected by the fact that I spend all day at w*rk writing, so when I relax I really want it to involve as little typing as possible.

Someone pointed out in another thread that there are roughly 600 active researchers. If half of those people wrote 1 EG entry each, we'd have enough entries to keep us going for at least another six months (at one new entry per day). So that's the trade. We all write one entry a year, or half of us do an entry every six months and in return we get to keep h2g2.

Fair? I sure think so.

Funnily enough Geggs, Children in Need was on my Wogan -related list of entries that I'm planning, although I thin fitting Eurovision into one entry is gonna be tough.

We need a more serious debate though: do we need Guide Entries when there's Wikipedia? Should hootoo entries be fundamentally different from the other place? Or is it acceptable to have the same information in a slightly different format? It's tough to find a subject that isn't lready covered there, so....what should we be doing?

Our entries are pretty different to theirs, though. Ours often have a wryly humorous, irreverent edge.

Think of it like this - a W*k* entry on a city will tell you how big it is in square miles, it's population and so on. A hootoo entry will tell you the most interesting places to go and visit and the best places to eat.

I think it *is* a serious debate already, Beatrice. Without Entries on the FP, I don't think we would have a BBC-sponsored site at all. Getting to the root of the problem in convincing more 'casual' users to contribute is important. While that debate needs to take place, I think it's more important to focus on getting a regular stream of Entries into PR in the first place.

I think we do need Guide Entries as well as Wikipedia, though, and for one site to have an absolute monopoly would be unhealthy. I don't think we aim to be an online encyclopaedia as much as a guide anyway, and our name reflects that. Moreover, we're very different to Wikipedia; we have a strong community, an excellent fortnightly magazine and some real treats in the UnderGuide. I do think, however, that the time has come for all of us to realise that the EG is our bread and butter, and without it we're not going to survive.

I like to think of the EG as The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy , whereas wiki is an encyclopedia. So I imagine Ford Prefect arriving and needing to read about something to understand the earth world and make sense of it, but in a cool and froody kind of way rather than a dry, encyclopedic way.

As for encouraging more writing:

1. revamp and bolster the Writing Workshop OR make PR a more user friendly place.

This thread F48874?thread=4748476 strikes me as what we shouldn't be doing. A newbie with an entry that potentially can be in the EG not getting much encouragement or support and instead getting and jokes, neither of which are wrong or bad, but the overall tone of the first handful of posts is not going to encourage new writers IMO.

2. Get the Eds to be more visible in the community again. Not in a huge way, but in a considered and friendly way. I hardly ever see them in the community, and it seems much easier these days to forget about the Guide entirely when focussed on community things.

I really like some of the little things that have been done with the FP like the QotD. That made me feel like being part of the Guide again, because I felt the Eds valued the community again (for me personally Jimster's past frustrations with and negativity towards the community became a real turn off in terms of being involved in the EG).

Lack of confidence, lack of inspiration and an over abundance procrastination.

"We need a more serious debate though: do we need Guide Entries when there's Wikipedia?"

Yes. Because if we turn round and say "no need for the EG, there's always Wikipedia" the BBC will go "well there's no need for h2g2, there's always Wikipedia."

Nor really much room for debate on that one. The EG is the sole reason for this place to exist as a free BBC funded site.

Sorry, I was a bit snappy last night (taking some PR criticism personally - I apologise)

I agree we need the Edited Guide. But it's sometimes tricky to find that quirky angle or unique hootoo approach that hasn't already been covered fully elsewhere on the net. And that isn't then too narrowly focussed.

" it's sometimes tricky to find that quirky angle or unique hootoo approach that hasn't already been covered fully elsewhere on the net"

I don't think that things being available elsewhere should be too much of a factor. Even if something's been done before on another site, the unique style of the researcher should mean that we can still provide an alternative.

I agree, and would say that I'm pretty sure all my guide entries are covered pretty well on the internet`- w*k* even quotes us a a source on some of theirs, so I don't see why we can't all survive - the net is surely big enough.

....but in order to survive the beeb need to see us being used - and not as a chatroom, that's where writing the entries is important, by doing so we can justify our existence on some level.

"but in order to survive the beeb need to see us being used"

That's basically it in a nutshell. That's why I've put myself forward as part of the Researcher's group. A dedicated "Corps" of researchers who are active in the community might promote a sort of trickle down effect. Newbies won't just be exposed to the chatroom side of h2g2.

That's why I put my name down too - I don't want to loose the network of friends I've built up here, so in order to pay the piper I'm prepared to put a bit of my spare time into the EG, it's a small price to pay for such a neat meetinghouse.

I enjoy writing, and I enjoy the feeling when an entry hits the FP but it's nothing without my mates here to enjoy it with me.

I think it'd be if the Eds were to put in an appearance with their take on the current situation and any helpful suggestions, after all they know better than any of us what the prognosis is for the ailment of the site.

Wiki nicked my entry on the Tempest Prognosticator. Maybe they rely on us too?