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

Getting out there and taking part isn't a fail-proof solution either. I'm beginning to suspect that the number of people actually participating in the Guide are few and far between. There are plenty of people writing entries, but the interaction seems to be limited to a few popular discussions. I have been reading a lot of entries and the number of times I've seen the words, "43 weeks ago, no replies" is quite phenomenal. In a club with such limited participation, I think maybe you either hang out with the "in" crowd or nobody at all. It would be too bad if H2G2 turned into a mere clique.

I understand the problem. It is very difficult to get an overview
of what is going on all over H2G2, and people only have limited time
to spend on the web - you don't want to be searching all the time.
I've seen the various ways in which people here are trying to overcome
this, but many people, especially the ones who only wrote several
entries and visit only now and then, are too low profile to be
noticed.

That's why I think a newsgroup is still an excellent tool for this
kind of work. We're still using it in Project Galactic Guide (see
my other entry), sometimes successfull and sometimes with more quiet
times. It wouldn't be bad if H2G2 had a newsgroup as well, that in
some way interacts with the site so that everything posted on the site
ends up in the newsgroup, and any posts in the newsgroup find their
place on the site as well.

But maybe H2G2 is too big for this, and there are better ways.
I don't know. I'm sticking to my own project...

This morning I went through my 500-odd forums, thinking "christ, somebody has to stumble over at least one of these".
Actually, somebody stumbled over one of my 5-week old forums about 10 minutes ago, so that's ok.

My reasoning is that the people here are using h2g2 for its chat facilities, and not actually really discussing things they find. I guess this is because they're scared nobody's going to reply to whayt they said. It's a vicious circle, isn't it?

Having an article approved and put up on the front page isn't a solution either, I have found (well, until now at least). Mine was put up last Friday, but it only got one reply. Is this a global development? I notice that the newsgroup of the other project I'm involved in is also very quiet. Are there now so many forums online and is the web so large that people can't find eachother anymore? So vast that people are discouraged to venture on. As for me, I tend to spend less time online for fun - I already work on web-related things all day - and stick to the places I already know, with the few people who are still there. Too stuck in my ways? Maybe. So where is it all happening these days? What is a fun place to lurk and later participate?

The thing I notice is that some places are just fated to be populated and busy. Sometimes a place comes up and people decide to flock to it for ione reason or another. On h2g2, I guess it's because it's deemed 'cool'. People who aren;t in this criteria tend to get ignored