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

So many people are leaving. My friends are leaving. We volunteered, we came through the move to the bbc, we came through moderation, SSO, numerous trolls, numerous server issues, numerous bugs, times when h2g2 wouldn't load, times when you had to keep moving threads as they would crash browsers, times and times... and now people are going.

I always told myself I wouldn't turn around one day and say "I am leaving h2g2, goodbye". And I won't. But I won't necessarily be staying so much, either.

This must be so hard for you to watch, Peta
Sometimes I wish I could turn back time, to things like the fun we had when you logged in as Mark and posted his "My Sex Life" entry Those were the days

LOL -those days were very funny! I really enjoyed my job back then.

It was all very different and new and shiny wasn't it?! The people also seemed different, I don't know if it's just that I'm less involved now, but it does seem to have moved to a different place...

I think actually Mark made a lot of the difference; I didn't realise it at the time completely, but he defended h2g2 on all sides. There were less people, and a much higher staff-to-researcher level then than there is now. There were two people looking after the community full time, you and Abi were great at it, and I think you made us feel cared for. Plus all the rest of the team, I think you had a great dynamic which gave h2g2 a lot of life.

I know I was different back then - I was only 18 when I joined h2g2, now I'm 24. I was looking over old threads the other day - I was so pushy and self-assured. But I've grown up a bit now...

It's not like things didn't kick off then too, though. We were all pretty new at communicating over the 'net without horribly offending each other! But we got through rows reasonably quickly.

I think everything changes. h2g2 is still a much better place than some! (tries not to look over at the message boards... 90% of the threads I seem to read on them wind up with someone being horribly rude about 3 posts in)

I wonder if this isn't the natural evolution of a community site despite everyone's best intentions. (Though that doesn't make it suck any less! )

J'au, do you remember that you and EV and DD were the first to welcome me to h2g2? I've always had a special place in my for the 3 of you. It is hard to deal with some of the changes we've seen here.

*waves to Peta and Jimi*

Yeah, I do... It was in the forum and firkin, wasn't it? Someone said something so ridiculous you unlurked, and the rest is history I was really pleased when you finally posted, cuz I'd always seen you in the online window and been unable to leave you a message...

Yep, it was the forum and firkin. If we had the smiley at the time, I would have used it! And your comment about seeing me in the who's online window was my first clue that there ~was~ a who's online window. I remember thinking, omigosh!, they can see me!

Hiya, ottox.

F24306?thread=55113&skip=120&show=20#p407697 I believe, WM :) (Although, I supppose http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/F24306?thread=55113&show=200 would be more faithful to how it looked and how long it took to load then ;)) for ottox, too.

Ye gods.

I've just read most of the backlog on the WJH thread... seems to me we have a couple of ACEs thinking and acting above their station. Has anyone alerted the italics to this?

(For that matter, does anyone know how much the italics have actually corresponded with Lord Wolfden? It seems, from my reasonably brief reading of his situation, that the kind of threads he "floods" aren't the sort of threads that the current italics, given the amount of work they appear to be doing elsewhere, would be anywhere near usually... )

... and I hope what I've just said doesn't cause any trouble.

for everyone.

Its so sad It seems to me that this problem has been affecting some reseachers like a stone in your shoe does - the stone is tiny but it hurts worse and worse and worse as you walk around, but no one else can believe that something so small can hurt so much.

This situation has been going on for *far* to long, too. I think this is what's causing it to kick off in a major way - no rl community can police itself, so there's no reason to think a virtual community should be able to either, and when you've been involved in a situation for so long it's almost impossible to get some perspective.

I think no one in this case is blamelsss, but I think someone high up should have done a major intervention about 5 months ago, to help researchers deal with it.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Large and open virtual communities need policemen just like real life ones. I guess in the end our choices are free communities or lawful ones. Take your pick.

But some are also returning...


Dancer

The way I see it - people can choose to be rude and people can choose to be offended... and since h2g2 is aimed at the geekier part of the population, people generally tend to be on the less rude side, but as the population grows there'll be more and more problems.

It is an illness of every (online or offline) community... but just because someone is rude, doesn't mean someone shold be offended by it. If we see someone's rudeness as his own flaw and not as a flaw in us - we can be more mature about it and not let it affect us.

'Back in the days' - We had a single rude person, that came back several times under different names - and this was a community wide issue.
I think much happened since, but I'm not sure what since I wasn't here.


Dancer (#*%@English#%&$^)

I'm glad you're bucking the trend

It's true too. If you let someone who's rude drive you away from something you've loved, then they've won...

Sorry to drag up a very old thread, but I've been noticing how different things are now. I think it's still nice, but different. I guess it's good other people have spotted it, and it's not just me. It's a shame, but maybe it's natural evolution, or something.

(And you explained the "My Sex Life" entry! I always puzzled over that! )