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

Kea, I adore you!

Could you copy and paste that post into the Interim Committee Updates thread? I know people are subscribed to it, but Sol is probably still in the maternity ward and won't be updating any time soon.

Ben

Done

Many thanks for your links, Kea.

I didn't know these threads existed. I'm subscribed to a lot of threads about noohootoo, but they've been extremely quiet since the mid-May meet in London. I figured that people needed some time to sort out other parts of their lives. Maybe I was just wrong, and the conversations were going on in some place I didn't know about.

June was given as the month when the BBC hoped to finalize whatever arrangements it wanted to make regarding H2G2. No news is good news, I guess.

What I wonder is whether more than one entity could collaborate on the new H2G2. Just a thought.

I think you are right about this sorting other things. Not a lot was happening here.

That's perfectly fine. A lot of people put other things aside, and it was time to get back to them.

>>> What I wonder is whether more than one entity could collaborate on the new H2G2. Just a thought.


Why not? More than one entity collaborates on the current h2g2. There's currently over 200 active collaborating entities

I hope to see this continue.

For legal purpose, though, someone is supposed to "own" the site. Some "owners" are more benign than others. I hope for the most benign arrangement possible, an alliance that spreads whatever burdens of ownership there might be so that all parties feel little or no pressure.

Ah, ownership. Well, our little town has a free concert series in the town park during the summer. So you could say that the concert series is owned by the whole town and all the businesses and individuals who pony up money to put it on each year, a shared ownership model to do something fun and musical during the summer. So, yes, joint ownership models are a wonderful way to provide a platform for good and creative works.

That's an excellent example.

Someone, a lot further back in this thread, made a comment to the effect that they'd like more H2 members to comment, and also that their dream would be that everyone, within this community felt welcome and equally valued.

Having read this thread thru, I, like Taff, seem to be able read between the lines, and use a bit of intelligence to forsee the future.

One of the things I honestly believed was that this was a democratic community. The other thing I believed was that the appeal of H2 was the fact that we thread drift.

Having read thru this thread, I see that we now appear to have a couple of self appointed moderators already who appear to be patronizing, and preface their criticisms with "I would like to see"
- both Taff and Effers have been put firmly back into their boxes because they are not "on topic". And yet, paradoxically, this is by those who'll cry "foul" the loudest at moderation generally!

What is wrong with this picture?

Frankly, I have been a member of H2 for around 8 years, and I have never yet been able to integrate comfortably within the community because of these strong personalities who believe so very strongly in
rights for every one. H2, for me, has always been the province of the intellectualazie, who'll nit pick and abjure us all to consider every nuance of every question and situation. I have sat and watched and despaired. Where is the humour, the flippancy, the satire? Where has our humanity gone?

Whether or not this committee wins their bid - and I don't think you have a snowball's chance in hell of actually doing so, because I too think the Beeb is a very slippery aunty indeed - doesn't matter an iota to me really.

H2 lost its appeal for me a long time ago, and I've only hung around because I found people like 2 Legs, Roymondo, RF, SWL and Taff entertaining. Their conversations and irreverent wit was worth listening to. (altho sometimes I must admit, I did wonder about 2 Legs sanity)

Douglas Adams' dream was, as far as I can see, a light hearted guide to Life, The Universe and Everything, updated as needs be. (ie, "The coffee here is rubbish" says one researcher,of a particular cafe, to which another researcher adds "Ah, but the cheesecakes are to die for, so order tea, instead")

And what have we got? The rather serious belief that we're here to "Create a Guide", and although I may be speaking for myself, because I can't pretend to be particularly well educated I find a majority of the guide extraordinarily dull.

Beautifully written, possibly, but dull. Everything is sooo serious, so earnest, so horribly politically correct. So very sterile.

To the list makers I'd say - just stow it for a while - until you know for certain you've won your bid, there is very little point in taking a sounding of "the community" (mainly because it seems to me, it's around the same 30 odd members of the community who chip in and reply) wants until it's yours. Kick your ideas around by all means; publicly, if it makes you feel better, because you're honest, idealistic and earnest enough to want everything to be open, above board and all the rest.

But I'd also say, knock off your own sort of nanny state moderation, if lesser exalted folk want to have a rant or topic drift.

I "Moved On" when the Beeb started to be so assiduous in moderation a person couldn't express a robust opinion without them having the jitters about legal action.

Dipping back, I now see some members telling other members not to express their feelings because they are not relevant to this particular thread.

And... you know what? I don't want to be a part of the old H2, nor the new one either because of that.

I'll keep an eye on the old place, because I'm sentimental - but as soon as I know who's going to own this site, I shall remove every single one of my edited entries and cancel my account anyway.

I'm sorry you feel like that. I also suspect I may know you by a different name.

You say you don't care but you have been coming back to the site for 8 years, so it must mean something to you. You've taken the trouble to post nearly 700 words telling us that you don't feel comfortable. Why do that if you don't care? We believe in the twin pillars of the guide and the community, lots of people come to h2g2 for the edited guide, but then lots of people come here to rename Thursday Thing or blame 2legs. The community is dependent on the guide, and the guide is dependent on the community.

There has to be a space for irreverence and there's always been a fair bit of topic drift. I'm sorry if I'm one of the self appointed moderators. I haven't intended to be.

I am quietly hopeful that we can improve the moderation system in the way that you suggest.

If we win and you want to remove your edited entries you have every right to do that. But why not suggest changes that we could make to make the new h2g2 a place where you want to be? I don't see any other bidders doing that.

I believe MovingOn is Evadne.

Thanks for your thoughts, Moving On/Evadne

It's no secret that this community is losing members faster than it's gaining them, and has been for a while. Things have maybe got a bit stale.

The BBC for one reason or another didn't invest in the site, either in terms of technical refresh or publicity. Maybe this is one reason why the guide morphed into more general non-fiction rather than the needs of the galactic hitchhiker - who knows?

We have strong characters here, for sure, but we've needed them to find our voice. This is a writing site, and by its nature, writing is quite an introspective discipline. We would wander around like a herd of cats without a few mouthy individuals to challenge and corral us. Having said that, there's no-one in this community who has ever penetrated the inner sanctum of the BBC's editorial team (apart from Mina, who went in the opposite direction). We are still held in their thrall.

I think the new broom that awaits us will sweep some of these barriers away. The danger is that we end up with a caste system of researchers on the executive/editorial committee versus those who aren't. I'm sure we all don't want to see that, and we need to think now about how we tackle that one.

I'm convinced there's a bright future for h2g2, and I hope to see you there

"Having said that, there's no-one in this community who has ever penetrated the inner sanctum of the BBC's editorial team ... ... . "

Abi was plucked from the Community, as was Chris, who did become a member of the editorial staff. Which apparently put him off h2g2 for good.

Chris before U39466 & after U283

Abi after U281 and before (and after) U47314

Thanks

Seeing what the 'vision' is for the site if the Consortium get it things will change...there will be more chances to get involved...remember...the site has been held within the confines of what the BBC can do and they had the control...

"Where is the humour, the flippancy, the satire? Where has our humanity gone?"

Is it behind the sofa? It's usually behind the sofa....

The vision was what appeared to be the consensus at the time that we made a long-term business plan.. if people disagree we'd love to hear it..

What I mean was that 99.9% of it isn't final, and is still up for discussion. Things are going to change anyway, if we get to run h2g2 we can ensure that they change for the better.