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

Entry: Andorra - A3092654
Author: Skankyrich - U931109

This is my first ever Guide entry so be gentle....

Excellent stuff!

I haven't been to Andorra myself, although I got very close to it in my car. (We got as far as a mountain pass where if we had turned right we would have entered Andorra. Instead, we went left.)

As a first entry, this is remarkable in that there is almost nothing wrong with it. I can only see one problem relating to content, a few typos and one or two places where your style doesn't quite match the h2g2 recommended style, but that's all.

Content issue:

When you say that Andorra has never had a post office, do you mean that there is no building in Andorra where postal workers congregate? DO the postmen drive in from France or Spain each day? Or do you mean that Andorra has never had a national postal service?

To make this clear, I'd suggest one of the following:

"Andorra has never even had a post office, never mind a national postal service"

or

"Andorra has never had a national postal service"

Issues relating to h2g2 style:

1. You should use at the start of each paragraph and at the end, instead of using to space out the entry.

2. Say 1950s rather than 1950's.

3. Put a comma in numbers bigger than 999 (except for dates, of course). So it should be 5,000 and 2,942 rather than 5000 and 2942.

4. Don't put punctuation in headers and subheaders if you can help it. So you should remove the quotes in the subheader "Caldea".

5. Don't use horizontal lines. Replace the first one with a suitable header.

Typos and grammar:

(other than shop) --> (other than to shop)

leads most visitors to believe --> lead most visitors to believe

Well done!

Wonderful Article!!!

Was wondering if this is where the Battle of Tours was?

Black Cheetah -

I really like this . Makes me wish I lived a little closer.

Generally, first person references aren't used in the Edited Guide, is there any way to remove the 'I's and 'the author's without losing too much of the style?

I didn't spot any uses of "I", and the couple of "the author" notes were in footnotes. I think it is acceptable to have a little of this sort of thing as it makes the entry more friendly.

I think all the ones I saw were in footnotes; if that's acceptable then great!

I liked

I think I almost went there once.

Strange holiday, France and Spain and possibly Andora were the plan

Ended up missing Andora and accidently driving into Portugal.

ndoroa needs its own entry, after all it doesn't seem to have much else !!!

ooooh, just a thought ... ?

September 25, 1939 -- The year when World War 1 final ended.

Nobody invited Andorra to the peace talks after WW1, so was offically at war with Germany for 2 decades !!

They had a quicky meeting with Germany on the above day to sign the peace treat for the end of WW1, and it remianed neutral for WW2

Good entry!

If you wanted another bad point, you could mention the cigarette smuggling...

sprout

*Waves to Rich*

I think this is one of the best entries by a new author for a while it's really good work.

I can't find any nitpicks besides what the others have already pointed out, and I would love those gems of information from the PR thread to be incorperated.

!!!

Thanks for all the encouragement guys!

Gnomon - I found the phrasing of the whole post office thing a bit tricky - Andorra has French and Spanish post offices but none run by Andorra itself; i.e. no national postal service. The postmen that work in (physical building that is) the post office are employees of the Spanish and French services who may or may not live in Andorra itself. Your second suggestion makes that clear, so ta muchly.... Will tidy up the h2g2 style bits as well, was trying to get it done before in a hurry to be honest and didn't thoroughly read all I should have. Will try to tidy up the rest as soon as I've got this posted....

Black Cheetah - From what I gather, Andorra's only connection with the Muslim invaders is that this is just one place they could have crossed the Pyrenees - Tour/Poitiers is quite a long way north - but it is more likely that they crossed further north near Roncesvalles, Navarra - will look into it anyway!

Miloso - I was really trying to avoid the first person but felt that every guide to any country based on personal experience has some subjective element. I tried to limit this by limiting it to footnotes, using only if I felt it was justified and tried to use the third person "The author" instead of "I" I'll check through it in any case - glad you liked it!

Jon of the strange name - Funny that, I was once going to Pamplona and ended up in Lisbon! Largely due to the cold though.... That's a great little story about the Germans that I never knew, I'll have to check that out and put it in, thank you!

Sprout - I don't really know much about the tobacco smuggling; as far as I know it's pretty much on the scale of Brits bringing home carloads from the continent (i.e. mainly just daytrippers bringing in far more than they should) (though admittedly it IS big business) If you know more than me on this let me know and I'll certainly add something to that effect...

Z - And thanks for the encouragement you've given me from the start! Your help the last few days has been well appreciated....

Off to tidy up the style, then.... Have a or on me..... thanks again guys!

thank you for answering... I was hoping that there was a big historical significance to the country...other than awesome place to go relax....

I had heard the Battle of Tours was a defining point for today's current world.........ahh well....thank you again...

and great work on an article that must require a whole lot of work...

Black Cheetah -

Well, it was land supposed to have been granted by Charlemagne in about 800AD, and in fact even as I write this I realise that I haven't actually put any history in at all - thank you for, in a roundabout sort of way, reminding me that a bit of historical context is a glaringly obvious omission.... *back to work*

I think it's ready now, have added the "History" section at last and included the various bits from this thread.... any thoughts?

I like what u did with the history snippet I gave you .

Looks good!

One new typo: independant --> independent

One date to be changed to h2g2 format:

September 25th, 1939 --> 25 September, 1939

You are still using in a couple of places. These should be removed. In particular, after "wise option.", you should replace the with and begin the next paragraph with .

Gnomon, shouldn't that be 25th September, 1939 or am I barking up a wrong tree ?

The h2g2 standard says 25 September, 1939.

Tweaked as requested !

Jon - It was a great piece of info! Checked it out in one or two places, so guess I owe you a !

With all respect to both of you (Gnomon and Jon) as you both sound right () I changed the format to what looked most right to me i.e. 25th Sept, hope if it's wrong it will get sorted by sub. Hope this is ok....

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.