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

There are these new groups popping up on h2 lately, that are unofficial groups to welcome newcomers - Rangers, Bountys, Guardian Angels.

They seem to be being started by new researchers who haven't spent much time on h2, and don't appear to be involved in conversations or writing guide entries.

What is going on?

It might be a single individual. There is a consistency of spelling mistakes. The messages have the flavour of spam, from someone trying to run before they can walk. Would be counter-campaign of yikesing all this drivel do any good?

Every time I drop into Hootoo, there seems to be a new 'welcoming committee' drawing its first faltering breath. To me, this is pointless. The ACEs appear to be a well-oiled machine; please, can the welcoming of newbies be left to them?

For those of you who haven't noticed, I've only been here (officially) since late November, and I'm the first to admit that I have a *lot* to learn about Hootoo. I wouldn't dare assume that I know enough about the functioning of the site to advise other newbies of anything much. That's what the ACEs are for.

I'm sure the new groups were started with the best intentions, but I think they constitute an example of misguided enthusiasm.

If I'd turned up here to be welcomed by the current profusion of unofficial welcoming committees, I'd probably have turned tail and fled. The thing that attracted me to Hootoo in the first place - and I lurked for simply ages before signing up - was the fact that Hootoo is *not* a chatroom. There's plenty of them out there; I've dabbled in them, stuck the odd toe in those murky waters, but they are not for me. Hootoo provides a fantastically unconventional alternative. Please, can we keep it like that?

*climbs off soapbox, having removed various matters from chest*

Ivan.

Some seem to want to turn it into just that though..a chatroom.

I must discover religion, so I can pray to some deity or other that it doesn't happen.

They claim to have the support of an ACE, which seems to be Intern, who also cannot spell. How does one check that someone really is an ACE, and how does one shut up this over-enthusiastic pain?

If someone really is an A.C.E there will be a badge in the right hand side column of their page , below the reearcher number

How to stop it..not a clue!

Yes, I checked that, but had a little difficulty to check the GuideML for the page (in case the badge was planted). I've resolved that now, and there seems no hope, Bounty has been encouraged. The next message I get from Guardian Angels, Bounty or the like will get yikesed, as spam.

If the badge is in the margin under the researcher details I din't think it can be planted

Make sure you don't accidentally yikes the 'real' Guardian angels..as in the group that has been around and workking with the ACE's for years! I can this all getting very confusing...

Nothing like a nice friendly welcome for newcomers who are trying to get into the spirit of things straight away, is there?

It's better than people coming to the site to start a fight straight away surely?

Ah, now I get it. Another group of GA's? Sounds a bit pointless.

Has been following this conversation for the last hour or so, wondering what had happened. Haven't noticed any of these new welcoming commitees myself. But I guess I'm not in the habit of dropping by newcomers' user pages anymore...



cheers
~Bistro

But it is quite annoying to receive postings (via peer review and Ask h2g2)from someone who has not been on h2g2 for a week trying to tell people how it works, and doing so more than once.

I don't think the ideas will take off unless they have an interesting 'usp'. Maybe there's room for one unoffical welcoming body?

All these new volunteer groups have been set up by one and the same person, using different researcher IDs

The pattern (so far) seems to be:

- Create new researcher ID
- Set up a volunteer group
- Post on other researcher's personal pages, telling them they have been selected to become a member of his current group
- Posting 'unofficial' welcome messages on new researchers' pages
- Unsubscribe from conversations where people try to ask him what he's up to
- Stop posting/using a specific ID after 2-3 days, abandonning the groups he has set up

Seems more like spamming than any real interest in helping people to me

One can only guess at the intentions of the person(s) concerned, but it does seem to be being done without the person concerned really trying to be part of the community and finding out how it all works.

Noggin

Titania
>>All these new volunteer groups have been set up by one and the same person, using different researcher IDs

Are you sure of this? Does seem an odd hobby...

Found the pages for the Bounty's and the Rangers (A2217304 and A2211931 , respectively). The first one look rather innocent, but the founder of the Rangers does seem to have had some serious spamming going on....


cheers,
~Bistro

A lot of it does sem to be by the same user, who was also saying they were an ACE to start with.

they said they was WITH an ACE - INTERN

however he hasn't said anything about it so far........

no no helly..if its the user i think it is, before all this help group stuff started they were calling themselves a paramedic and then added ACE to the tag.