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

For want of a better or more apt place to say this:

I always thought it odd that wikipedia is much closer to an earth version of "the guide" (as described by DNA) than h2g2 is, in that it values it's completeness and shear scale above its absolute accuracy and careful editing. This is in total contrast to h2g2.

Not a criticism of either , just an observation. I actually think it's quite interesting that a full sized earth version of the guide has developed without being a direct product of the books.

Wolfticket

So...by implication, h2g2 values accuracy and careful editing?

Ah, the number of times I've spotted a factual error or typo but haven't bothered trying to do anything about it because the process is so long and soul destroying.

imho - as an encyclopedia, h2g2 doesn't hold a candle to W***pedia. Its value - and what it should major on - is its ability to take a slightly personal or sideways look at a topic. Some Researchers have forgotten this, and there are too many entries that are...how can I put this politely...dry. NOTE: This is not a plea for forced quirkiness: when it's done badly, it's the lowest form of wit.

I still think h2g2 is better than Wikipedia. Why? Well this tag on a wikipedia entry says why:

"This article or section contains instructions, advice, or “how-to” content.
The purpose of Wikipedia is to present facts, not to teach subject matter.
Please help improve this article by removing or rewriting the how-to content,"

Because when I'm looking for how to look after a gerbil, I want to know how to look after a gerbil, not the names of every subgenus of the family gerbillae. The Guide can tell me, Wiki obviously can't.

So, Artificialbiology, there you have it. The differences between h2g2 and Wiki are:

1) Ask a question on h2g2 and it will almost certainly be used as an excuse for a party

2) Put a guide entry on h2g2 and it doesn't get altered by someone else - they have to suggest changes that you could make to improve YOUR entry (unless you're working on a collaborative entry of course).

3) Contribute to h2g2 and you'll be part of a community of normally intelligent, quirky, funny, sometimes drunk...ok, often drunk people who all care passionately about this site and what we do here (not that I'm suggesting that the other lot couldn't care less about who writes on it but, well, a quick read of the page history of any major piece and, , make your own mind up on that one ok?

4) Any conversations and question threads posted on here will rapidly escalate into hundreds if not thousands of replies (which can be a bit daunting, but don't let that put you off) and there seems to be an unwritten rule that ALL threads will drift off topic usually by about page four, sometimes less.

5) We were here before Wikipedia, not the other way around as many often think. They got bigger by not having the already mentioned exhaustive peer review process that maintains the quality of the final edited entries on h2g2 and dissuades the sort of people who vandalise Wiki entries.

6) Their site doesn't have the prestigious accolade of having developed from the 'Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' by Douglas Adams.

7) We keep the spirit of Zaphod Beeblebrox alive by occasionally getting together to put a face to the names, develop the community into real friendships, wave towels at each other and / or get drunk, often in London but elsewhere around the globe too.

Welcome to h2g2 - fabric conditioner for the great towel of life.

Great post Radox, masterfully summed up, if I may say so.

Imagine, if you will, that Wiki is a tenis ball, and that hooToo is a pin pong ball balanced on top of a small furry lobster, then, if you lay a piece of string which is exactly as long as a piece of string over the doorframe, crouch down low, run into the street and count up all the eggs, then the tenis ball is still where it is, but the pin pong ball has levitated above the lobster and created a vortext. Now, imagine that the piece of string across the door was attached to a small pen, a biro lettuce say, with a 2.5 KG lump of cheese on the end of the biro, and then its quite clear to see how the two, Wiki and HooToo are differnt.