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

Happy 18th Birthday !

First issue was 6th December 1999.

Time to celebrate with , and and then why not see an 18-rated film, vote and get married ?

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Oh, lord, h2g2's old enough to drink...

Congrats

The first issue of can be seen here: A467101
Please note that it is best viewed in Classic Goo (it was designed to be seen in Goo as that was the only skin that existed) and looks odd in the new ones.

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A fun read. We're so old, we're archaeological!

And you can read the whole archive.

This might be a good time to ask if you'd like the job of writing the archival descriptions? We've got...er...a few back issue pages that need descriptions......

I assume he's talking to you as Dmitri knows I'd just write things like 'don't bother reading this issue, there's nothing by me in it'.

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Oh, now...

Wow indeed

I don't need anything more to do as my list is longer than my arm, but I rummage in the Post archives occasionally and had seen the comment about the descriptions but didn't know what it meant - are they the pages that describe what is in the issue and then give the links to each Entry, or is it something else?

If you look at the older Post archive pages, you'll see what we mean.

There's a short description - a few sentences - beside each link to explain what's in the issues. It makes browsing easier. Also makes combing through them easier for the editor...

Here's an example: A87766889

Ah - just everything that's happened since June 2013...
A728732
Maybe after I've finished 'Written in Black & Wight', there's only a few letters left. Or if you're inundated by volunteers we could split it, so say I could do 2014 while someone else does 2015...

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If we get inundated with volunteers, I'll let you know.

The usual comments to the Post Editor are:

'Oh, that looks like *work*. Never mind.'

The descriptions are really 'value added' for our Post archive - which, as you pointed out, is an amazing compendium of 18 years' worth of great stuff.

Of course, we're victims of our own success. We've been weekly all this time, rather than biweekly. And no more of those long vacations taken by Zarniwoop...

Someone say 'drink'?! I'm sure they did.... its throwaway comments like that, which need to not be lost

Has certainly come of age

I know what you're thinking, Dmitri, 'BB keeps bombarding me with rubbish which I can't refuse, but perhaps I can harness his constant writing by diverting it to somewhere out of the way…'

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Ah I hadn't seen one of those pages before, but it seems all the rummaging I did didn't go back that far...

It might seem an enticing prospect some time, depending on how much other procrastinating I'm doing, but at the moment I really need to make progress with some of the other projects I've started...

I raise a glass to the Post Archives - they may be thinner on top than they used to be, but at least they're there when we need them

I'll drink to that! As Rowan and Martin used to say.

Why I thought of you, Bluebottle - you have a mind which is both organised and completely bonkers...

I tell you what: if any or all of the Guide Editors would care to pick a page, any page, of that archive, skim each issue, and ninja-edit the summaries...go for it: I promise not to call the cops.