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

Happy h2g2 New Year
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As one of the most exciting years in h2g2’s history draws to a close, we reflect on some of 2011’s significant milestones:

- January 24th - The BBC announced their intention to dispose of h2g2. (F77636?thread=8018187)
- February 17th - The BBC advertised an opportunity to buy h2g2. (F77636?thread=8072491)
- March 17th - The period to express interest in purchasing h2g2 came to a close. (F77636?thread=8072491)
- June 16th - The BBC approved the winning bid presented by Robbie Stamp, Brian and Aly Larholm and the h2g2 Community Consortium. (F77636?thread=8244180)
- June 21st - The BBC announced the winning bid.  (F77636?thread=8243991)
- August 31st - h2g2’s new owners Not Panicking Ltd signed the purchase agreement. (F77636?thread=8271224)
- October 3rd -  Teams of technical personnel began moving h2g2 from the BBC’s servers to Not Panicking Ltd’s servers. (F77636?thread=8280798)
- October 16th - Not Panicking Ltd relaunched h2g2. (F21546918?thread=8281971)

Since h2g2’s relaunch, it has served up 3.8 million page views to 1.6 million visitors from all over the world. Recently 5,553 readers learned How To Buy And Cook Turkey (A666641), 7,887 readers discovered how to prepare Perfect Cheese Sauce (A515332), and 1,784 readers consulted a Recipe for Mulled Wine (A3474029).

Our visitors are not just popping by for h2g2’s recipes, but are reading entries in all Guide categories. As a small sampling, Jade Plants as Houseplants (A1084664) had 939 visitors since the relaunch, the History of Radar (A591545) had 817, Ancient Sparta (A9565437) had 774, So You Wanna Be a Stand-up Comedian? (A676181) had 1,133, and Tips for Best Man Speeches (A695324) had 4,650 visitors. Also popular are h2g2's many how-to entries, such as How to Sew a Modern Kilt A10177427) with 701 readers, How to Roll a Perfect Cigarette (A591284) with 6,735 readers, and How to Make an Amateur Film (A626131) with 674 readers.

To the 1,995 users who looked up the Differences Between A Cold And The Flu (A1032102) and the 11,499 users who read A Hot Toddy Cold Remedy (A823439), we hope you get well soon. And to everyone, especially the 11,654 people who looked up Creating Great Fancy Dress Costumes (A603794) and the 1,183 visitors who read How to Make Elderflower 'Champagne' (A593363), we wish you a very Happy New Year.


Communications Team Addition
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The h2g2 Communications Team is very pleased to welcome Mr603 (U219983). Mr603 brings his copywriting expertise to the tiny but mighty Comms Team, joining Happy Nerd, Radox the Green and Minichessemouse in telling the outside world about our ever-expanding Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything and posting announcements like this one to help keep our fellow researchers informed.


Everything in Moderation
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The Moderation Team has updated and expanded Moderation on h2g2 (A87706713) to provide more details about what happens when someone breaks the House Rules.


Introducing the h2g2 Operations Team
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Not Panicking Ltd welcomes the newest volunteer scheme, h2g2 Operations (U14994913). Headed by Mrs Zen, h2g2 Operations' work includes drafting organization charts (A87730833) and policies, which will be published on h2g2 just as soon as they are approved by the Board of Not Panicking Ltd.

There will be quite a lot of work in describing h2g2's policies, and the h2g2 Operations team is seeking volunteers. If you have business admin skills and wish to lend a hand, please volunteer by leaving a message at h2g2 Operations (U14994913)

This is a great end to 2011, this whole year seems to have been incredibly busy, when you see it written down like this.

And all those readers!

What an insane year we've had.

Well done us

I am amazed at how wonderfully everything has turned out so far- and I'm pleased to be part of such a great team.

Here's to a successful (though hopefully less wild and woolly) new year for all.

I've just been re-reading the threads from the disposal.

It's been quite a year hasn't it?

And I'm thrilled that it's working out, that nearly a year later I'm still sat at the same desk, reading h2g2 when I should be working.

Congratulations and well done to all involved. Here's hoping for an even better 2012.

Happy New Year to all.

Good work.

Job done well, well done.

Congratulations!

There are a lot of new projects since the takeover. The Advent Calendar was amazing, as were the many new smileys (some of them absolutely inspired!). From what I hear (can't divulge anything at this point), new projects are under way for the New Year.

Bravo all!

TRiG.

Don't oversell my contributions at all...

One thing I meant to say about this announcement; well done for keeping track and tracking down all those threads. It's more time-consuming than it looks, that sort of task.

B

Ben, it looks very time-consuming anyway. Don't tell me it's even worse than it looks.

I do like those cogs

Have we moved then?



MMF

Last year I made a new years resolution to only eat organic, free range or ethically farmed meat, and I stuck to it.

Next year I think I'd like to get some sleep.

'Since h2g2’s relaunch, it has served up 3.8 million page views to 1.6 million visitors from all over the world. . . .'

Great job all

Just an idle question . . .


I simply can't put these numbers into any context with which I'm familiar.


How many page views would a web site expect to have over a couple of months?

How many page views did H2g2(BBC) serve up in a comparable period a year ago?





These numbers sound good and I presume and hope they are, but without context . . .

The BBC never told us their figures. They kept them secret.