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

I was asked this question by a newbie..thought it deserved more than just my reply....

Emmily

To build a community and therefore a Guide!



NR

Actaully, I'd say to build a Guide and therefore a community, but I guess that's because the site is so big- it can be for whatever you want it to be

From interviews I've seen, DNA started the Digital Village as a community, and h2g2 as both a community and a guide.

The Guide without the Community just wouldn't work. There'd be no fun in writing entries for the guide if there wasn't some reward in it. Since there's not money, the reward is in kudos among the community.

The Community without the Guide would be good fun, but I can imagine the level of conversation going steadily downward, until it reached rock bottom, the level of the Usenet.

Questions that require a mutually agreed definition for words like 'purpose' always beg the larger question, what is "The Meaning of Liff".

Perhaps we are all here to witness the second cummings.

Maybe we are supposed to start a revolution or give peace a chance.

More likely, as in my case, I've found nothing else on the internet that is worth reading on a daily basis. There are a lot of good 'presentation' sites, with plenty of wit and info to be found. But, even before they become predictable and overly familiar, they are already limited to being a one-way monologue with no member or reader input.

Yes, what makes h2g2 special is the feedback, the discussion, the many points of view on such a vast range of topics.


~jw~


~jwf~

It is also the largest free space (and advert free) on the web.




Alji, of the Red Dragon (Swynwr y Ddraig Goch) (conducting a sun sign poll at A712595)(Member of The Guild of Wizards U197895 looking for wiz kids to join, though you don't have to be a wiz kid just know a bit about some subject that you think will be of interest to others or just bore the pants off them. This is an equall opportunities space open to all sexes, ages and abilities)

The forums are my reason for coming here. I've not written any guide entries yet, and my homespace is a waste of space, but the people here are smart, erudite, opinionated and sexy, and I like to be with people similar to me. You also miss people when they're gone. Where, for instance, is Two-Bit Trigger Pumping Moron? He appeared to be my ideological opposite and I always enjoyed his reactionary posts.

Andy

He posted last week Andy @
F48874?thread=194004&post=2181341#p2181341
and two week ago @
F19585?thread=193008&post=2166197#p2166197
among others, so he's still alive and kicking

Alji (Member of The Guild of Wizards U197895)

Hi folks, I am the newbie that Em referred to, asking this question. I thank you so much for your responses that are very enlightening and strangely consistent.

I also thank Em for posting this question in this place, as I never knew it existed. I am still not too sure how I would find this place to find out what other conversations are going on.

Just when I think I am beginning to understand what h2g2 is, I am introduced to a whole new part of it that I would have found on my own

wow

Try the 'Talk' Button.

H2G2 is indeed a many faceted thing. It's a great source of reference, community, debate and mirth.

Welcome Catweasel, I hope you enjoy h2g2 as much as the rest of us do.

Simon the

The original concept is based around Douglas Adams' book "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" where free roming researchers throughout the galaxy created entries on all sorts of topics and made them available throughout the galaxy. Later, with the advent of the internet, Douglas realised that an earth-version of the Hitchhikers Guide was actually feasible, and he set about creating H2G2. So the main aim, I guess, is the entries, but an offshoot of this was the vibrant community that was created around the guide. The community is probably the major "purpose" of the site nowadays. In my opinion however, the guide entries and the user spaces are what really makes the community so vibrant.

Woodpigeon

If you mean our individual personal spaces Woodpigeon, I would have to disagree with you. I believe that one of the main things that makes this community so vibrant is the wide variety of virtual clubs and places which have been created by researchers, such as Lil's Atelier, The Waterworks, the Muses, the Keepers, the Thingites (damn them all to hell and back ) etc.

We're trying to recreate DNA's concept of "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy"... Hugely inaccurate, largely misleading, profoundly useless, but slightly cheaper than the Encyclopaedia Galactica and having the words "Don't Panic" in large, friendly letters on the cover. How're we doing so far?

I'd say we're failing. "Don't Panic" was replaced by "Help", the Guide's many entries now span enough topics to actually be of use (go on, try using it when you actually need to find something out or need advice - you'll be surprised), the interactive, peer-driven nature of the entry-editing system coupled with the knowledge of a diverse community means that anything innacurate doesn't remain so for long (and causes plenty of heated discussion).

Oh and the Encyclopaedia Galactica doesn't exist - whatever the nice folks at the Galactic Guide may tell you .

You could read Douglas' vision for h2g2 at A550955 or his own Welcome message at <./>Welcome-DNA</.>

I always thought the Encyclopedia Galactica was a thinly veiled reference to the Encycolpeida Britanica. And we're much better than that!

As for Guide Entries, yeah they're useful, but again, Ford Prefect's entries consisted of "Harmless" and "mostly harmless" so they were slightly incidental to the books....


I find this website a source of inspiration, fun, information and friends

Apologies for how schmaltzy that sounds, but thats the way it is.

I've just explored those DNA links given above, and I'm literally crying with tears of laughter at his observation that the computer industry didnt even see the millennium coming, let alone the internet.....

Oh Douglas, do you know how much we miss you

I'm glad you liked the links.

Whether this is a community attached to the Guide, or the Guide with a community attached, what never ceases to amaze me is how little the community actually knows about the Guide.

So many times I see questions asked, when the answer has already been written.