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

I just thought I'd ask for a bit of help.

Beyond the basic function of the site as a source of information, what else do people need to know?
what are your views of H2G2? How has it helped you? What are the flaws?

thanks. xxx

As a community, bring people together with both common, and diverse interests from around the world. Helping to foster a sense of community, and helping create friendships, often leading to people meeting up at social events/meets. on the negative side is the site being slow sometimes etc...

Well Kate I like h2g2 because:
i You get nice replies from people like Rowan Editor
ii You get to connect with all sorts of people
iii You can speak your mind
iv You can access researcher's input which is non-commercial
v You get an insight to other cultures
vi You can have laugh
vii You expand your skills and knowledge
viii You can vent your frustrations
ix It is therapeutic if you suffer from mental illness or
alcoholism
x You get to connect with some talented people..for example
Anhaaga or Amy the Ant and many others.

I am a positive sort if person so search elsewhere for negative comments

thanks guys, you've been loads of help already.

can i ask, do you think that you need to be a dna fan to fully appreciate H2G2, or is it open to all?
Are there HHGTTG in-jokes which could exclude some?
Or do you think that having that extra dimension of its origins just makes the place all the richer?

Don't laugh but I found the site by accident. I was searching for the BBC home improvements section. I can remember "Hitchhikers Guide" both on TV and on radio. But DNA only resolved when I started to research a bit after my arrival.

Does it influence? Yes, to me it does because I like to enter into the surreal a bit. I think there's a bit of that in all of us.

I'm a determined sort so nothing would deter me, sometimes you get a cultural mismatch in humour. Can't think of an example..sorry

The "open to all bit" is important to me and personally I try hard to promote that ethos. The DNA history is not vital to the site's future but for many I have detected an emotional longing for those times. Not for me, I live for now!

" You get nice replies from people like Rowan Editor"

I wouldn't add this Kate, Rowan isn't on h2g2, she's on Collective.

I'm not a DNA fan - I've read HHGTTG once, and can't really remember anything about it. But I love this site and am posting this when I really should be revising for my applied linear algebra test tomorrow which counts towards my degree...

Don't tell them about:

- The sci-fi, science and maths geeks
- The dopey 'insert the word "knob" here' threads
- The moderators
- nighthoover and/or 2legs

You'll only scare them off.

B

Beg your pardon Mina. I must say I don't differentiate between the two sisiter sites. Rowan was my first contact on BBCi. I suppose that adds to the strength of the enterprise. For me without the Collective H2G2 would be less attractive. Then there are the other sites within the BBCi fold...many of which I haven't explored yet.

I find it really interesting that you say "without the Collective H2G2 would be less attractive". While the DNA sites can't stand alone software-wise, they *do* stand alone because of what they are. Neither needs the other to run.

I've certainly been quite happy for years on h2g2 without ever being aware of the Collective (until now).

To be active on H2g2 you need literacy skills. You could be active with just IT skills alone, but at some stage you would become frustrated. The collective develops literacy skills.

I have no interest whatsoever in the internal politics of BBCi. As a punter I want the product not the factory.

The BBC crewe that run the sites, to me, are an important if not vital part of the enterprise. People turn rhetoric into action and that is so often overlooked.

Oetzi, this is interesting. Can you tell me how the collective encourages literacy? Because I thought that h2g2 did that too. If not, then we must be doing something wrong.

I am a newcomer. Perhaps it's the colours of h2g2 that encourages confrontation...that's the intuitive answer. The clours on Coll are more sedate, contemplative and creative.

This will require further thought, may I return in a few hours please.

Of course, it could be the chorus of loony suggestions that greet any question that discourages literacy on h2g2!

h2g2 has another aspect for me, as I work from home. Everyone else leaves the house as dawn cracks and although the does her best to listen when I want a chat, this glazed look comes over her eyes...

So the site is like chatting to work mates and there is nothing like a bit of a natter, or exchange of views to liven up a day.

Yes dear!

"Don't tell them about...The dopey 'insert the word "knob" here' threads"

Are you kidding Master B? Students love stuff like that!

we do indeed.
though i am now extreeeeemely confuzzled.
what's all this collective business?

(this'll teach me for disappearing for 4 years, won't it?)