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

Now I know that hootoo is like no other website...

...but are there any other websites that you think it might look like? I'm trying to see what sort of business model we could copy.

There's this:

http://www.douglasadams.se/


or another one I use is a biking site:

http://www.ukgser.com/home

in which certain areas are free, but you have to subscribe (£12 a year I think) if you want to put things on the buy and sell section, or send/ receive private messages.

I'd like to see some comparison sites too, esp ones that are run by volunteers.

I know there will be an imperative to manage financially, but I'm going to make a strong case for equal access for all i.e. not preferential access for people with money. I know this is old fashioned in some parts of cyberspace, but it fits with the ethos of h2g2 IMO.

Having said that, when I get the chance I'll join the brainstorm looking at fundraising and income.

MMF pointed out the webpage for SAGA which struck me as
the bright blue and colourful pallette of wonder and order
that might have been intended by the designers of the new
bloohootoo. Compact, intense, visually stimulating...

http://www.saga.co.uk/

The difference is that SAGA fills the page with sectioned
boxes and you have to scroll to see the whole page unlike
the newer style we were offered which is preferred by the
younger people who hate to scroll and just click on headline
boxes if they want to expand.

I still think a homepage or a front page should be a full page;
full in the sense of complete as a unified whole, not just a
collection of truncated paragraphs ending with dotdotdot... and
a 'Read More' hot link. But that's just a personal esthetic. And
my general preference for scrolling over clicking.


~jwf~