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

Meet Update: Bring Yourself & Your Towel To Manchester
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Have you made plans to attend the Manchester Meet on Saturday, February 18th? If you haven't done so already, RSVP here: (F22118095?thread=8284976) For more information, visit the Manchester Meet entry (A87721040).


The Return of Talking Points
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We are pleased to report that the Community Editors (U14916633) have brought back Talking Points, an initiative to elicit comments, stories, and information about a particular topic. Some Talking Points may be used to create collaborative Guide entries. All researchers are invited to join in Talking Points which will appear in the Askh2g2 (A148907) forum. Talking Points will have the format “Talking Points: (topic)” and will be posted by the Community Editors. 


Planning Ahead With Create
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Create (U14992038) presents a Planning Ahead page (A87734226) for h2g2 researchers to participates in proposing coming creative challenges. Visit Create’s Planning Ahead page (A87734226) if you wish to contribute to the list of ideas or peruse the list of monthly themes for inspiration.


Create Asks You on Askh2g2
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Would you like to know how to make smileys? Are you skilled at operating digital environments? Create (U14992038) is hosting conversations to find out what you would like to know and help you discover what others would love to learn. The Create Team intends to include more 'how to...' challenges, with an emphasis on h2g2 skills specifically and digital media ones more generally.

Create’s hosted conversations will appear in the Askh2g2 (A148907) forum. The subject line will have the format “Create: (topic)”, for example, Create: How Do I …? (F19585?thread=8289032) and will be posted by Create: Endeavours in Reading, Writing, Rhythm, Blues, Art, Photography, and Biscuits (U14992038). You may also send an email to create AT h2g2 DOT com.


Update From The Tech Team
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The Tech Team (U14917802) would like to apologize for the problems you may have experienced over the weekend. This wasn't anything we'd planned but it did mean we've been able to get to the bottom of a couple of niggles that people been having and hopefully these will no longer appear.


Elsewhere On The Internet
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The Literary Platform (not affiliated with h2g2.com or Not Panicking Ltd) is sponsoring a challenge to animate a recording by Douglas Adams about the evolution of the book. If you would like to discuss the project, please visit "Inventing the book properly", the Literary Platform's Douglas Adams competition (A87735432).

Nice new use of Ask Look forward to that. Is Talking Points going to be regular thing? Is there a scheduled day for that? (I could never figure out when the old ones started).

hmm, it is possible to RSS individual threads? Only crazy people subscribe to the whole of Ask but it'd be good to get the TP and Create threads automatically.

Ask is getting busier, it's so good to see the Whole site getting busier too.

mini

Perhaps this is an opportunity for a modest proposal
to alter the current use, misuse and abuse of ASK.

Misc Chat has never attracted the kind of convos
that so often clog up the basic intended use of ASK.

Genuine ASK questions get lost in constant updating
of some very OLD but interesting and fun threads.

Therefore, I propose that any ASK thread that goes beyond, say,
60 - 100 posts be moved to a new Forum called `DEEPER THOUGHT`.
A link to Deeper Thought would be needed on the main ASK page.

That way, ASK will be constantly refreshed and make room for
actual new ASK questions. These are generally answered and
resolved in a few postings but always disappear down the list
as the Classic Old Ask Threads (COATs) keep getting bumped up.

So grab your COATs folks and head for Deeper Thought.

-jwf-

I believe the tool to move threads is broken.

Hi kea,

Talking Point will be an appear occasionally for the time being, most likely introduced on Thursdays.

Witty Moniker
Community Editor

>> the tool to move threads is broken. <<



OK. But when it`s fixed maybe we can think about
my suggestion for keeping the Top 20 ASK threads
current.

I know in the past there were some efforts to move
the longer (deeper) ASK threads to Misc Chat but it
seemed like a punitive action. Like being banished
for giving any subject too much thought or for having
fun and going off-topic.

By creating a new forum called Deeper Thought for those
threads that achieve some traction such a move could be
treated as a reward system for the more successful ASKs.

Reach 100 posts and achieve Deep Thought status!

Then the short term questions like `where can I find an
entry on Sweepstakes tickets`or `can I use cornstarch
as a substitute for flour` will remain in the Top 20 ASKs
long enough to be seen and properly answered, while
the old perennials will continue without cluttering the list
of recent ASK posts. Anyone subscribed to the longer
threads will still see them in their own conversation lists.
And newbies can find them in the Deeper Thought forum
linked from the main ASK forum.

But obviously neither carrot nor stick will work if the
donkey has a broken leg.


-jwf-

Nice one Witty

~jwf~, how to you access Ask?

>>
I know in the past there were some efforts to move
the longer (deeper) ASK threads to Misc Chat but it
seemed like a punitive action
<<

Actually no, quite the opposite. The Eds moved a bunch of chat threads to Misc Chat, threads that weren't asking questions but were just silly threads - nothing wrong with them of course, but they were in the wrong place. People who were subbed to Ask for the Q and A were getting annoyed by the very large number of chatty or silly threads (I seem to remember Footbacon getting a telling off )

Speaking of... anyone heard from her since then?

She popped up a while back, with an actual serious question in Ask not less . But then she disappeared again

>> ..they were in the wrong... chatty or silly threads
(I seem to remember Footbacon getting a telling off) <<

Exactly.
I`m suggesting we make it a more positive process that
allows discussion to expand, as it will, while leaving
the Top 20 in ASK to be the most recent new questions.

(I subscribe to many ASK threads and in Alabaster frames
I see the TOP 20 most recently updated threads list in a
box beside every conversation. Most of these also appear
on my homepage `most recently updated` list while many new
and unanswered questions have disappeared below the Top 20,
squeezed out by some ASK threads that have been going for
ten years or more.)


=jwf=

Thanks for asking, kea. In the future, that may be possible. In the meantime, here is the next Talking Point (F19585?thread=8289168)

Talking Point: Good and Bad Work Environments

Enjoy.

Happy Nerd
Comms Team

Thanks for giving a link to the Talking Points center. I look forward to putting in my two cents' worth on future topics.

Ta HN, and thanks from me too for the link.

Thanks from me too.