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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A610390

I've seen you spending a fair amount of time on the moderation helpdesk, trying to understand decisions made there, offering advice gleaned from experience, and such wonderful things. I'd like to invite you to help me with this entry.

I'm aiming it in the same way that I created my Peer Review submission tips, for example: it should expand on, clarify, explain the current house rules. Things like a list of naughty words, which the towers *cannot* provide, I can try and provide. In places where there are legal obstacles to the towers providing guidance, I can try and guide. In places where they are too busy, I can take the necessary five minutes to explain.

All helpful, 'positive', and generally melodical stuff. But it needs your knowledge to cover all the rulings which I've missed or forgotten. , please?

-Martin

At first glance, this sounds like a minor accident waiting to happen. I see dozens of new people reading the expanded and clarified "Unofficial" House Rules, accidentally breaking rules, then indignantly complaining to the Italics that they are vindicated because they followed the Unofficial House Rules. I foresee Mark not liking this idea.

...However, if you're just looking for suggestions on what you've written so far, I'll gladly give some. It will have to be in a few days, when I can put some time and thought into it. I'm still away from home until Monday 13 Aug, just checking in for a few minutes on my in-laws' pc tonight.

Talk to you later,
Deidzoeb

I understand what you mean about potential for an accident, but I've emphasised the unofficial nature of my guidelines, so I hope that will suffice to warn people off, so that they check the footnotes before doing anything rash. I can't imagine many newbies coming to see my entry, anyway. The ones that do will be the sort of people who know what they could be getting themselves into.

Suggestions are definately good - but no rush, of course. In particular, I can't seem to find the thread where that sunflower got stuffed into your rifle barrel, which seems like something I should link to. The warning you got for posting on the DNA page seems relevant too. There were other bits and pieces, but I don't know what.

Okay, I'm back from the big Mississippi River tour of my in-laws' homes.

The idea could work nicely if framed the right way. I should be over there reading it, not trying to guess what you mean. Soon as I post this message, I'll read your Unofficial house rules. Just wanted a little more clarification. It sounds like you're looking for specific past incidents, like the ascii-image Zaphodista Recruiting poster and my protest on DNA's welcome page that were removed?

Almighty Rob created the ascii image of soldier with rifle (which he said was taken from a classic Cuban propaganda poster). Peta didn't like the gun, so Almighty Rob's guide entry was hidden. Luckily I had saved a copy, so I played with it a little, adding a yellow and green flower shape at the end. It still looks like a yellow and green explosion at the end of the rifle, so I changed the letters to make the message even clearer: FLOWER and SUNFLOWER in the yellow and green bits, and descending down the rifle barrel "art think strive thinking playing is our only ammunition".

I posted the modified ascii image on a tripod webpage, sent an email to Peta with the URL so she could view it, and asked it that image would be acceptable. Peta said it was okay, so I put it up on several guide entry pages (my personal space and some Zaphodista pages), and there has been no conflict over it since then. I don't think the original image was so threatening that it needed censoring, but I'm satisfied with how it played out. (And now that it's been up a while, I kind of like the image of Zaphodistas as people who would stuff flowers down the rifles of oppressors rather than wield rifles themselves.)

If you want more info about the protest I posted on the DNA-Welcome page, you could check out the "Zaphodista" section of the n2g2 discussion boards. (Go to n2g2, look for a link to "n2g2's New Forums". The thread is titled "offensive forum post by Deidzoeb...")

...Meanwhile, I went back to that site, and found where you had written in that thread. So I'm probably explaining things you already know.

To make an already long story somewhat shorter, the upshot was that the transgression was not so much the content of that message, but the placement of a protest on DNA's welcome page. And it was considered dangerous enough that it merited my first and only emailed warning from Peta. Moral of the story is that protest is acceptable in most areas of h2g2, but not acceptable when posted on the discussions of welcome pages.

btw - you going to update the Petition page with a list of everyone who's signed it online? That sorta thing might be impressive - help to have an impact...

I figured the "sign up" threads show who signed it. Consolidating all the signatures might make it clearer, but anyone can go to the discussions under the Petition and see how many we've had.

b00



-THDoM