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

'Have you put up a shield to protect your "outsider looking in" status.'

Is that a question? If anything has changed in that regard it must be at your end.


And if I get it right, your 2002 quote is from two weeks ago.

I think you need to review your method of reading information here.

So we are reposting PS comments to larger audiences now? I look forward to any thoughts you have that had previously been restricted to your Personal Space.

clzoomer

It was you who posted part of my personal statement, not me yours- which was the thing I read of yours written in 2002.

What I copied was what you wrote on another conversation a couple of weeks ago, which I thought was a useful supplement to what you had posted on this thread and worth reiteration.

As for Personal Space generally I thought that the whole point of the H2G2 Personal Space was that it was a bit of this virtual universe where we could actually control what went in.. But not its exposure. It is a space, however alien, that people Hitch-Hiking the Galaxy might drop-in on and visit by accident or purpose.

Cass

"Thanks for having dropped in anyway..even if you found the atmosphere inappropriate for your needs."

Blind dismissal, then? Who I am, what I do here and what I say are not dependent on your approval or condemnation.

You quoted a Journal Entry, not a post to general conversations like Ask. If you had a problem with it, I would expect a reply- not a post in a public conversation.

We join conversations here, not use quotes in them as talking points in another convo.

clzoomer

Apologies.. I think I see now what happened.. And it probably explains that thing that I could not understand.. I did not realise that I had accessed your Journal, not having any experience of the Journal format etc. I thought that somehow I was sent through your Conversations to the Conversations site... Is this why I saw a running record of number of posts etc in blue? Do Journals have such a facility?

I can only apologise for an honest mistake..I am only beginning to vaguely explore H2G2 to see whether it is "appropriate for my needs"- if I may adapt/quote myself.

I really did just think that it was another conversation, and that what you had written there supplemented what you had posted here.

As for "blind dismissal".. It was you who asserted that the historical core at the heart of my own thought-adventure was not to your taste. I said that you were welcome anyway. I can not see how that is being dismissive- rather the reverse.

Sorry

Cass

No worries.

Once again the posted word is less, more or even irrelevant to what was intended.

clzoomer

Perhaps you prefer images to words.

Cass

"It's compiled code and we have no access to the source code."

I had no idea it was that way.

Pliny, you say?

The way this old system decides which is a 'most popular' conversation defies all attempts of logical explanation. It's probable that whatever calculations or coding is powering us at the moment is seeming to pick up threads that have frequent and numerous postings. It ignores things such as the 'blame 2legs' conversations which are both popular and long running. There are many, many others - which in my analysis should more probably be classified as 'most popular'.

When our trusty technical lead - Pastey - has rebuilt the whole new version, we will hopefully be without these annoying quirks leftover from the barren days of the BBC. I've had a few glimpses of what is to come - and witnessed the incredible amounts of hard work that is going on. Our Artists and systems people are beavering away behind the scenes on your behalf.

If I was you Cass, I'd just ignore this business of 'most popular' on the present Front Page - it won't be broken for much longer.

Hi Hoovooloo

Yes, the new version is going to be named Pliny. We'll still have our old favourite skins, for those of us who like the familiarity they have come to identify with - but we are going to be able to fix things that have been broken for ages in these old skins.

Personally, I can't wait.

That is very good news, Lanzababy.

Once again, I am in awe of Pastey and the others who are working so hard behind the scenes.

There is the wider issue of what makes a popular conversation - what aspects of a conversation on the internet do you most enjoy?

"what aspects of a conversation on the internet do you most enjoy?"

In no particular order, the opportunity to:

1. point out that someone has just shown themselves to be really, *really* stupid, and make fun of them for it
2. share something fun I've found or made with people who will appreciate it
3. perpetrate a really, really bad pun
4. persecute the superstitious and/or bigotted (see (1)).

"1.. point out that someone has just shown themselves to be really, *really* stupid, and make fun of them for it" [Hoovooloo]

I have moments when I *feel* really, really stupid. What measures can I take to avoid being taken to task for this?

Keep the feeling to yourself?

"It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt".

Ah, but.

If you're afraid of making a fool of yourself, you won't get much done in life.

I think Rod is right. I'm not worried that people will think I'm asking a stupid question. The only stupid question is the one that you *didn't* ask but should have.

I've always held that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.

Doing a stupid thing does not make anyone stupid.

By the law of averages the more people do, especially in increasing the range of their knowledge/experience, the more that they are likely to make mistakes sometimes silly, or even stupid. But it has been said that people learn more from their mistakes than from their successes. A bit like "the exception that proves the rule"- you discover significant borderlines and limits.

What might be considered stupid is wasting away a life not doing things for fear of looking stupid. So we all benefit from the extension of "hate the sin but not the sinner". Or "let he among you who is without sin caste the first stone".

Coming back to this question of "popular conversation"- I suppose I need to remember (it seems) that lots of people on the web are snatching a few minutes at their work-stations to escape from "the common round" of their working life in search for some light-relief, while there are others not on "the merry go round" who want much the same.

I thought of that when asked what conversations I "enjoy". Mostly face to face ones with real people.

Cass

Oh, I'm always doing stupid things (Hoo has witnessed some of the best to date)


If I don't keep pressing buttons nobody would know they were broken, would they?


lil xx

The extension of "let he among you who is without sin caste the first stone"...

Let he who is without a butt press the first button?