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

I thought, after lurking in this thread for a while, that I should say hello. I am a lurker, mostly from lack of time - I can't keep up with all these threads! And someone has always made the point I was going to make by the time i go to make it. It's the procrastinator in me I also plan on putting your badge on my site Ottox And if you understood any of that you are doing well! (its obvious I don't post much isn't it?? No one can follow my train of thought, least of all me! )


~Fluffy~

(Too busy posting elsewhere)

***B

though not in _very_ private threads!

Mel

just found this, great thread, re-enters lurk mode.

*lurks*

*lurks some more*

*spots the lurking with her*
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*quickly unlurks*

Longish post but I don't think its a rant. I hope not, it's not intended to be, these are tentative thoughts but I can't show tentative in black and white. (I'm no ).

Cafram, post 80, touched on the fact that h2g2 is intended to be The Guide to LtU&E and that that requires readers to be present. If this Guide is to be of use we must expect, hope for even, that there will be a many, many readers/lurkers here.

I think this is a good point. Lucinda said something about being here to enjoy being part of the community. I agree with that too. To me what makes h2g2's community work so well is that it has a purpose, it's not solely about chatting. This community is here to create and update the guide. Whether by contributing, discussing, editing etc etc, or being part of its social life we're all a part of that. That would mean that we need, in all this community activity, to remember that it's purpose can't be fulfilled without h2g2 being consciously in the public domain. Doesn't this mean everything here is open to public view and we should have that in mind when we write it?

Visitors with no connection to h2g2 are effectively invited to come here to read, without any limits put on what they have access to. In that sense there is no privacy. They're also invited to comment. I don't see how, as h2g2 is currently set up, we can put restrictions on how and where they do that. Which would make all conversations fair game to a visitor jumping in with the assumption that he/she will be welcome.

It seems to me that only territory we can expect to have is that given by the consideration and 'good manners' of the registered (and experienced?) H2g2'ers. Which will come over time as we build our own conventions of behaviour.

I wanted to post my 2p. (2c., 2d.) for consideration after a lot of enforced lurking yesterday (when the BBC invented a new number system in which my 10 character user name was less than the six characters required for logging on). I came on threads which made me realise the lurking issue was wider than I'd realised when this thread was started. I did a fair amount of thinking and this is as far as I got. From my point of view it hinges on what h2g2's purpose is. I did wonder whether this had changed with the BBC's involvement as I remember reading that their interest was the community aspect of the site.
Waz

Please report to http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U178286 and very kindly push the brand new shining button it is really

I joined as a researcher in May sometime and made my first public post last week (excluding my request for the title of Keeper of Mislaid Secrets). I keep my own page turning over and read other pages a fair bit. One thing that struck me was the ease with which I could track a person's movements throughout the site - this is the bad sort of lurking and having done it once or twice when I started soon stopped. But the reason I have hung around is the sheer volume of interesting things to see here.

It has taken me a while to get a feel for the site. I have read newsgroups, technical mailing lists and social email lists for years but this place IS different - it is so diverse and navigable.

Also, probably like a lot of people, over the years I have grown cautious of posting to any public forum. Generally I am happy to keep to my personal space: others can visit me. I will add to others' forums (especially now I have broken the ice) if I have something I am bursting to say.

Anyway, I am the keeper of Mislaid Secrets - so I am not meant to say much...

PT

*lurks*

Mel

It kind of makes you nervous sometimes, doesn't it? I mean, if it is all happening,to you personally, all the time. You have to let it out somewhere. And here, anyone is free to take your happenings as posted and use them to produce just about whatever their minds can create from them. Copywrite or not of the BBC, I am sure writers and lurkers are looking for ideas. You are the artsy type, n'est pas? So you know what I mean, but you just can't help yourself can you?

In post 108, phonecian trader points out how you can lurk where other people post, by tracking them on their user page.

This is a positive thing, as it means that when you find someone posting in a thread, who says something that you like, you can then pop over to their page (by clicking on their name) and find other places that you might find interesting.

This helps to build the community, and any moves towards getting rid of this would seriously harm the community building, and thus the community (long term that is).

What is needed, rather than suggesting that it is a bad thing, is for the powers that be to keep an eye out for stalking, which is just as unacceptable online as it is in the offline world.

My Gentle and Loyal Mage,
How are you? So good to know that you are out and about on the h2g2. I am doing well these days. Feeling better and so happy to know you are in the universe. Missing you.
Worlds of Love,
JLC

ooh! with words like that, you will get us talked about.

I can't get to my email for a day or two, but it is good to see you here and know that you feel better.

I will try an write to you soon.

Ahh but would we talk about you when it cannot be done behind your back?!

I think the openess of h2g2 encourages people to think what they write about others, knowing that it can be read by anyone including the person who is the subject.

Mel

I like lurking.I also enjoy poring,perusing,peeking and peeping.I learn a lot that way.

Hear Hear, h2g2 has done wonders for my education!

Mel

a Lurkers Anonymous forum:
sounds like seeing invisable man walking while he is invisable

me lurks too,
but unlurking every now and then when unlurking needs to be done to react.

Tis hard to be anonymous yet contribute to this thread. The real hardcore lurkers...they are the ones who make no noise. Mwaahahahahahaha. *checks over shoulder* Who was that?

*silently swimming past*

Mel