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

Entry: Cyprus - Transport in Cyprus (3) - A2892198
Author: Englesos - U816315

Living (or trying to) in Cyprus as I do, I see a lot of what might be described as odd, or on occassion as totally insane.
I have I site (which I will not plug here ) with various articles in a similar vein on Cyprus by my bemused self. If this goes down well I may offer futher oddments.
I may be a tad premature in going straight for "peer review" but lets see how we go.
Feel free to check out 'Cyprus - Transport in Cyprus (1)and (2) if so desired.

Many Thanx - Englesos

Hi there! Sorry it's taken a bit of time for someone to come by and comment here.

Have you had a chance to see some of the entries we have in the Edited Guide on driving etiquette in various countries? For example:

A412769 Driving Etiquette - Canada
A412840 Driving Etiquette - Israel
A412895 Driving Etiquette - Spain
A412912 Driving Etiquette - Switzerland
A412813 Driving Etiquette - India
A412859 Driving Etiquette - Italy
A412831 Driving Etiquette - Ireland
A412877 Driving Etiquette - Norway
A412787 Driving Etiquette - Egypt

I think your entry is a very good start, but perhaps taking a gander at these will give you some ideas for improving yours.


Mikey

Hi there,
Thanks for the input but a question - in what way does the article specifically need improving in your opinion?

It's possible that it isn't perfect but I need a few more specific criticisms to use as a possible "steer".

The other items were of interest - but how do you think I should use them to modify my own?

Thanx

Englesos

OK, here's my effort at being more explicit -- I guess there's a few things to consider:

1) Your entry here isn't on "Transport in Cyprus" in general, it's specifically on driving a car. I think it's worth changing the title to reflect that.

2) Since we already have a large number of entries on driving in different countries, I think it would make sense to maintain some cohesiveness in that regards -- i.e., titling this entry similarly, trying to include somewhat similar content in a somewhat similar format, and aiming for the same style. Imagine if you had an almanac that covered a wide range of countries -- doesn't having the information presented in a consistent format make it easier to find what you're looking for?

3) The style -- right now, this entry reads (to me, at least) like it's trying just a bit too hard to be funny. The introduction is a good example of this -- the information is presented in such an exaggerated way that it would be quite difficult for the average reader to actually learn much from it. The main point of the Edited Guide is to inform, not to be funny -- this is a balance that many of our newer researchers struggle a bit with. I had hoped that a glance through some of those other, related entries I listed might give you an idea of that balance.

Does this help?


Mikey

I also realized that those I listed were largely quite a bit shorter than yours -- here's an example of a related entry that's a bit longer, so might be more helpful to you:

A395372 -- Driving on Autobahns in Germany

there's also this one: A795567 -- Driving: Good and Bad Habits, although I think the one on the Autobahns is probably closest to what you were trying to do.


Mikey

Hi Mikey,

Thanks for the further info.

I have re-titled to "Driving in Cyprus - The Highway" such that if I submit the other two articles I have for inclusion we can tie the three together if required but still be more accurate as to contents of each piece.

Re style, the criticism may well be valid, but for exaggeration - the population in Cyprus is only around the half million mark and yet based on my personal experience ( I work on A&E at a hospital) we have from two to five fatal accidents a week.
You can't drive five miles anywhere without passing the little roadside crosses that mark another fatal RTA mourned by the victims family.
Motorcyclists here drive 1400 cc machines wearing shorts, no shirts and sometimes no shoes - and only the truly limp wristed (in local opinions) wear helmets.

Sometimes its too sad to be funny.

So since the basis of humour (to me ) is truth - I'd like to stay with the Pol Pot gag for now unless you have major issues.

I indulged in a spot of reformatting too, and will duplicate the format on any future articles.

Hope this will answer at least some of your points,

Talk soon

E

One more thought - largely because there does not appear to be an "edit" button

I see your point that the goal of the guide is not just to be "funny", but for me the Guide would not be the Guide somehow if it did not have its tongue at least partly in its cheek.

I can understand the desire to be a little on the tongue in cheek side of things -- out of the entries I've written, some are more cut and dry, but most incorporate humor and a more lighthearted style, although some more or less than others --

Velveeta Cheese (A262414),
Koro - Genital Retraction Syndrome (A593354),
Cool Patron Saints (A523405),
Ways to Keep Your Legs Warm (A891083),
Decorating Office Doors (A1019675)

The one thing I tried to do on each of these, however, was to keep the "funny bits" from interfering with the real purpose of Edited Guide entries, which is to inform. I guess that's what I see as a problem in this entry -- in trying too hard to be funny, two problems occur:

1) The entry *reads* like someone is trying too hard to be funny, which really makes it not so funny after all.

2) I don't take any of the rest of the entry seriously. In fact, if I was reading this anywhere other than in Peer Review, I would have stopped at the Pol Pot comment, and not bothered to read any further.

If you really want people to know how dangerous the roads are in Cyprus, then it's worth including some material that people can take at face value -- statistics, for example. I found one report that gives annual car crash deaths in Cyprus as 17 per 100,000 population. This is as of 1996, so might be a little outdated, but they had a nice graph and everything -- http://www.factbook.net/EGRF_Regional_analyses_Africa.htm


Mikey

Author has elvised.

Flea market or back to entry?

My vote would be back to the entry....

Sorry - I know its been a while but I'm kinda busy. Just let things sit and we can talk later.

What is elvised? Something to do with Tolkein?

When a researcher hasn't been on-site for two months, we start refering to the possiblity that the researcher has Elvised, as in "Elvis has now left the building". So, no, nothing to do with Prof Tolkein.


Geggs