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

Why don't *you* help out in PR if you're interested in improving standards?

I do from time to time. I'm also a (admittedly not the site's most prolific) Sub Editor. All I'm saying is there's a perfectly good Editorial Feedback system. If you spot an error, get it changed. It's no good complaining about the standard of things already in the EG and then not doing what you can to improve things!

You really should check out the conversations on my Personal Space, before giving me that sort of advice.

Are you doing anything about getting the older Entries up to scratch?
They may be old, but they are part of today's Guide.

It wasn't advice. I was simply stating that too many people complain about things they can easily change. I'd also like to point out that at no point did I make any reference to declining/already poor standards in the EG. I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say that a "superb" entry wasn't good enough to "distract me from typos" and then tell someone to go and do something about it. Especially when all they did was point out that there are ways and means of correcting the mistakes that were ruining my browsing of the Guide and not, it would seem, their own.

Then again, maybe I don't spend enough time in PR to have a say on these matters?

Rudest Elf has been on a commendable one man mission to correct the guide for a couple of months. I raise my hat to the chap! (or chappette)

Had my original comment been replied to with "I've been on a commendable one man mission to correct the Guide actually" then I would probably have responded along the lines of "Excellent, I raise my hat to you sir!"

Point is, that I didn't know about this quest, I made a valid point and was shot down with a nice little mocking laugh and some sort of implication that I didn't do anything in PR and as such didn't count. Or at least that's the way it came across.

Apparently my comment was taken out of context as, it seems, was the reply I got.

Thanks for clarifying that for me Roymondo. Oh, and you *still* owe me a MMI interview!

I've been seeing Rudest Elf pop up a lot in the, er, not sure what it's called but I appear to be subscribed to it. I do think that there should be no grammatical or punctuational errors in the EG: that is after all why we have Subs) but, on the flipside, I'd rather be gripped by an entry with errors...

Nah, who am I trying to kid? The EG should be grammatically flawless.

And yeah, I know about the interview, but I'm still trying to answer the first question!

It's been four months! FOUR!

I've always had this idea about the 'spirit' of the Guide -- I see it as addressing the hitchhiker in a dry tone, a veddy British accent, a figuritive hand on it's hip, and a twinkle in it's eye...

I've got to say, I don't see that attitude in a lot of what I read in the Edited Guide.

I've only contributed to a couple of pieces, almost by accident, and I've never written a solo entry. Mainly, I chicken out because I'm just not funny enough, I think. That, or my fear of displaying the depth of my grammatical ignorance.

I'm thinking about taking the plunge, though, if I can only remember the topics I want to write about, when I sit down to write.

To SpaceCadette:
Try concentrating on one topic at a time
<> the <./>writing-guidelines</.> say we shouldn't attempt to be too funny...
<>
there are plenty of people who will help you in Peer Review. If any errors survive PR then the sub will iron them out. Any other slippages are spotted on FP day and reported to <./>feedback-editorial</.> where the wonderful Curators get busy
Please don't let the process put you off writing It will help us reviewers if you submit something to PR and state it's your first solo effort.

GB

You don't have to try to be funny in your entries. If you happen to be, that's fine, but everyone has their own writing style. I think the key thing about Hootoo is that the entries should be easy (or as easy as possible given the content) to read and understand. Clear and lucid and enjoyable.

I keep a list of things I might want to write about on my PS. But whenever I think 'how about starting a new entry' I always find I don't really want to write any of the ones on my list, and so I end up writing a new one .

A672022 The Life and Works of JRR Tolkien - written by a fan for a fan of LoTR and The Hobbitwhich I'm neither. Hardly anything about his "life" - quite disappointing, and not how I'd have written it.

A558371 Synaesthesia - this grabbed my attention right from the opening line, well-written, informative, clearly explained, wow. I've run out of superlatives. There's lots of feedback too, which I'll read after lunch.

A1043191 - Statistical Software Used in Epidemiology - way too specialist, out of my league. EG: Sudaan was especially designed to deal with funky data samples: samples that were cluster-correlated, that had unequal weights or multi-stage sample designs. No footnote explanations, except what "the olden days" in the introduction refers to.

A275979 - The Gnat Line - hmm, obviously someone's idea of a joke, that got edited.I don't know why that's not been relegated to "Mostly Harmless" status.

A204319 - Running - hmm - not my day for IID gems

A558371 Synaesthesia

A6755871 Sexton Blake: The (Other) Greatest British Consulting Detective - cracking entry I'd *almost* forgotten about him.

A9565437 Ancient Sparta - another little gem

A330535 Poor Mouse Mocha - brief recipe - from the convos at the bottom, I don't think the author likes it anymore, though.

A4429631 Leeches - a bit eewwww, but a rather good read nevertheless.

A4158371 The Love Affair of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles - Very comprehensive and very well written.


I've done exceedingly well today . Only one short one. Thank the goddess my hubby is not here otherwise he would be having a right go at me now. Will have to try and find the dregs later I think

Hoorah! One of mine! Thankyouverymuch

I really need to write more for the guide.
as a community artist I do try to read a few guide entrys a day,
and the random entry thing is the best way to look for one without a picture.

as far as the subject of spelling and grammar for the guide is concerned i think that it should have the correct British versions thereof
I say British because it is a British site so appologies to any Americans out there.

but having written a guide entry (and weighting for one to be edited) I know that it can be very frustrating for the writer of the entrtys when people in PR even though they are trying to be helpful do so by picking at spelling and grammar even though i always considered those corrections to belong to sub editors.

as you probably realise from this post I'm rubbish at grammar and spelling, though at no point of telling people I'm dyslexic i really really cannot help it as I can't tell the difference between correct and incorrect half the time

so my appologies to you grammar people out there but i would much rather read an interesting entry that is wrong than one that is dull yet grammatically correct

I agree that content is the MOST important thing, but presenting it properly is extremely important, at least for me. I get the odd typo etc when I'm posting thread posts, for quickness I dont spell check everything, however if I read an edited entry I put quite a high importance on the effort put into getting it right. I understand that for some it's harder than others, my grammar, if you get picky, is awful and my punctuation is so-so, but I thought that was the point of the peer review and editing? Not that I've ever written an edited guide entry (I will one day... I promise! Not enough on horses around here... Or pantera ) so I guess some may dismiss my preferences out of hand...

I'm with you there, as I said, an entry with many typos, and unclear sentences does put me off from enjoying it, if not from readingg it alltogether. Bear in mind that there are some non-native speakers here for whom a correct grammar and spelling in an edited entry is essential to understand things in the first place.

I agree they are necessary but i think it should be more upto the sub-editors to fix those things.
if an entry is flawed after sub editing is that really the fault of the original author?

Not necessarily... Hence the question about general trends of lowering (or lowered in the past) standards?