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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2673577.stm

Er, guys, they're fictional places... c'mon now... *shakes head*

INCREDIBLY sad!!!!!!

It's not sad, it's just...err...

Waitasecond...It'll come to me.

Grrr. Errgh.

No, you're right. It's sad. Incredibly so. Even I, with my escapist tendencies, know this difference between real and not-real.


Though who'd wanna go to Hogwarts? Yeesh.

Just shows the mentality of the people who read Harry Potter, doesn't it!

Very true. I mean, yeah, it'd be cool to visit fictional places - if there were such a place as Pern, I'd be there as soon as I could - but still, it's pitiful that one would actually *search* for tickets to these places.

Sad sad sad.

Rather than sad, I find it a depressing illustration of the general public's lack of intelligence.

Pathetic. Utterly pathetic.

These are the same saddoes who think that the characters in Eastenders and Coronation Street are real people. I think it's quite scary that there are people who actually think like that.

Never underestimate the capacity of the public for gullibility, stupidity, or ignorance.

Just ask anyone who's ever worked in customer service... like me

It's not at all clear from the article how many people thought that these were real places. Someone who's not very good with search engines might well search on a travel page to see if they could visit the location for the film. After all, the local tourist industries in both cases are using the films as a selling point.

Azara

"Never underestimate the capacity of the public for gullibility, stupidity, or ignorance."

Don't forget that this is the, albeit increasing, subset of the population which are rich enough, literate enough and intelligent enough to have a computer with access to the 'net.

Geez, is there any hope...?

GSYHIAP :@)

Unfortunately one no longer needs to be rich, intelligent or even literate to make it onto the world wide internut...

If any of those were requirements, I wouldn't get so many random IM messages from people I don't know using txt speak and all of that.

Heehee: Internet redneck: "Oooh, they's quality folk. They use capitals and full words and suck-like."

(I love rednecks, I really do. I go to school with a pile of them.)

Well the last study I read (unfortunately I haven't got it to hand now), found that there was a clear link between those people with access to the internet and their literacy. Probably because *most* of the information on it is still written.

I had to save up for long enough to get this PC to know that although prices have dropped, computers are still expensive things for some members of our society.

Intelligent? Well, maybe you're right...

*goes off to look for that study*

:@)

So far as I know, in the US you can get a bare bones system with a modem and relatively cheap internet access for not a whole lot (I don't know the actual figure). Plus with internet cafes, libraries, and many workplaces being always connected with broadband, it's just a lot easier now for a lot of people to get online who previously hadn't.

And intelligent? Have you seen the XP prompts? "please, do this, it's not hard, plug the computer in the socket so it will turn on" I had to switch everything on my machine back to 98-looking stuff cause I felt like I was being talked down to.

*backpedals furiously*

i found the article. Unfortunately my memory seems to have been selective about this one. Although it reckons that the 'net "helps to develop a basic standard of communication and comprehension", it also says that "the growing popularity of 'net-jargon' is leading... to a sharp downturn in spelling and grammar standards across the board". Oops, I concede that one then.

Of course, I overlooked the internet café boom, since I've only ever been in one of the things.

Personally, I quite like XP. But then I spose I did engineer the registry as soon as I got it to remove those b****y pop-up bubbles. And, yes, a trained chimp could operate a computer these days.

I'll get my coat.

"Never underestimate the capacity of the public for gullibility, stupidity, or ignorance."


Um, yes. Well they didn't give any specific examples - the whole article reads as a puff-piece for Yahoo travel. We are all supceptable to a little gullability. As Yahoo has just demonstrated.

I actually do not think that people looking for, say, Rivendell is so sad/unusual. You know, I for one, have looked for fun locations on the net a couple of times. Just to see what you would get. It is just like trying out if the travel agent of your choice would take you to, say, Heaven, or Ratsass, or Isengard.