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

yeah, but why not include some of the good parts from the book as well?

lots of people have been doing it, and what about dna's Future Perfect article? I think if I was doing a search here for something, and douglas adams had written anything about it, ficticious or not, i'd want that to come up first in my search.

(by the way, my caps lock is acting up right now)

Hi

Sorry to not have replied sooner. We cannot include parts of the book in the Edited Guide for the same copyright reasons. The BBC does not own the copyright of the book. But also Douglas didn't want the Guide to be written in the style of his books, he wanted it to be written in the Community's style.

With regard to how the search engine works, the results will list the most likely match at the top, followed by other, related entries, each with a percentage score shown. You can find out more about it at <./>DontPanic-Explore</.>

That stinks. But it doesn't matter. I just found somewhere online that has a searchable archive of HHGG quotes which would do almost as well. And I went and asked the h2g2 community thingy about finding DNA EBooks. Here's a link to my question: (i like brunel) http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F19585?thread=218711&post=2517931 Nerd42

Fiction...? Real earth...? Wha...? ....o.k., where's my compass?.... musta took a wrong turn somewhere back there between imagination and creativity.... darn, that'll waste a palms full of poems and a pints worth of universes.....better set my watch to this pond of fish before I make any course corrections, or maybe I should wait until I reach my destination to begin, hum.... no, I'll just hurry up and sit in this here very spot for a mile or so, then I can back up and try against my better judgment. That tastes about right and left out the back door bell ringing in the towering above the frey. thefartherawayigettheyoungerilookupclose and thats a fact jack ~

Hey,
You know, you guys should all just meelow out and try to offer genuinely useful pieces of information rather than getting all nitpicky about small details. Dig it?

Well, I'm getting in a bit late on the act here but WTF. The (online) guide I'm sure tries to be accurate and truthful but, to quote briefly, the original "has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate". I see that as a fine piece of editorial philosophy.

Hi Abi,

I checked out the Copyright Terms and Conditions, which, as a site user I implicitly accept (although Clause 5 whereby you hand over all rights to postings to the BBC is draconian - I certainly won't be posting MY next novel on here ), it doesn't seem to cover one specific situation. I'm not a lawyer but I believe under English law it is permissible to quote short excerpts of an author's work for the purpose of, e.g. criticism, recommendation, discussion, education etc. Obviously users will probably want to do this for discussion purposes.
As a new on here I have been reading as many FAQs as poss but I may have missed it somewhere. If it is on the site, grateful if you could point me at it. If not, it's an issue that should be considered and a note added to the Copyright Terms and Conditions. (e.g. how 'short' is a 'short excerpt?') A. 'About as long as a piece of string'

PP

ps. I have only been on h2g2 for a couple of days but have told everyone I know that it's miles better than 606 (which is where I arrived from). Backward bloody

I have been here 2 years pandapig. I believe the current moderation of the 'Iraq' site was the direct result of a very limited number of researchers who injected comments on the deaths of politicians.
While I am sure such comments were made in the heat of the moment there in lies the problem. Now that we are certain of being at war within hours passions are running high. This leaves a posibility that talk of this nature could be concieved to incite. While we all believe in free speech we have to remember that this site is owned by the bbc and must conform to it's rules and regulations. They must err on the side of bbc regulations or they may not have a job. For the whole I believe the moderators have done a great job. Out of the thousands of posts I have had 2 questioned by moderators {and I did not liked it} but were put back in after a few hours. I think we must give the moderators the benifit of the doubt during this very unique and troubling time. Hopefully in the near future things will return to normal.

moderation is running amok.

My opinion is that moderation might be a little too tight generally, so havig it tighter right now is... well... you never know what people will start saying so yeah, maybe that's a good idea but.... free speech costs air, which h2g2 tries to provide, but people shouldn't waste it by blowing it out of their ears
Nerd42

some day the few who ruin it for the rest will be a distant memory, I'm sure the mods are trying thier best to make this a good place, please excuse my spelling.

Not bitchin' about the moderation levels at all starbirth. (Remember I am a refugee from the 606 where you can't say 'weewee' without someone handing you over to the secret police). It would just be nice to get some clarification about the legality of quoting 'short excerpts' from a published work for purposes of discussion, criticism etc.

, still want pig smiley & will hold breath until I get one

99 Knights of the air
Ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a superhero.
Everyone's a Captain Kirk.

It seems that laws are etched in titanium, and are followed to the letter with out consulting thought or reason. Any Imbicille who's not a lawyer could tell whats harmfull infringment and whats good old conversation, but these are the times we live in and well........

Abi,

I agree with the Adams vision of a useful and accessible guide that is produced by the people who will use it. But, despite Douglas' falling out with the concept of humour, it is still a site that will naturally draw people who laughed their haunches off reading his books.

I, among many, would be most disappointed if the site wasn't also a place for some creativity and laughter. It would become just another information site, of no more interest or advantage than any travel site, or Google search. It is supposed to become a community, if memory serves.

PS: The copyright laws may differ from country to country, but the type of citing being exercised in most of these threads almost always consists of minimal scraps of dialogue or concepts, and we should always (on this site) be assumed to have been attributed to the author, Douglas Adams. These are not normally considered to be violations of copyright law.

I understand, and agree in principle, Abi.
But as a nod to DNA, who might have made provisions for a nod to us, the fans, it might have acknowledged that Earth is indeed a part of the galaxy, and included a paraphrased, familiar welcome like:

Don't Panic . . .(which of course it does, on the front page)

. . . Earth is an utterly insignificant, blue-green planet circling a small, unregarded yellow sun in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy.

Its primitive, ape-descended life forms have only recently passed the stage of development where they think digital watches are a pretty neat idea and have now progressed to the level where electronic communications leashes they call cell-phones have effectively eliminated any time that they might have had in which to look at their digital watches.

These, they now think, are a pretty neat idea (especially picture phones which now allow them to share images of things of no interest to anyone but themselves, to accompany conversations that are of no interest to anyone but themselves).

Still, it's a place where one can find art & music (audio/visual only, as they do not employ tactile, olfactory, taste, or psycho-stimuli), food (often good, sometimes poisonous, and occasionally both [see entry on Fugu]), companionship (beware their tendency to talk of the excessively obvious), and the occasional really wild time where an alien can easily fit in [see entry on Mardi Gras].

etc.,

Thanks for your time,

> ... I am a member of the inhouse Editorial Team.

...who should hang his/her head (heads?) in shame!

> When Douglas...

How dare you presume to be so familiar with a person
who:

a) Will be famous long after your have collected
your last paycheck for leeching off his talent.

b) Is more than slightly dead at the moment
(sadly not just for tax purposes), and
therefore unable to correct your impudence
in person.

>... he wanted people to make a real Guide to Earth

Well, nice idea, but its being done much more completely
and professionally than the BBC can ever hope to equal at
http://www.everything2.com. Check it out. Surrender.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

> ...Incidentally, you should not quote wholesale from
> Douglas's books or any other published works as this
> is technically a breach of copyright,

No it certainly is not. It is one of the most basic
and simple forms of "fair use", as such quotes are a
"review" or a "critique" of the author's work, made
with full attribution. More to the point, they are
made in a forum clearly created to PROMTE THE WORK
and generate ADDITIONAL REVENUE FROM THE INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY.

>...which is against the House Rules.

Wow, you have RULES???? Did Mr. Adams know that you
were going to go Vogon so quickly after he was no
longer able to hunt you down and pelt you with stale
jelly doughnuts to keep you in line?

> You can find out more about copyright on h2g2 and
> other BBC communities at http://www.bbc.co.uk/copyright

...where BBC, right off the bat in "Rule 2", reserves the
right to CHANGE THE RULES AT WHIM AND WITHOUT NOTICE!!!

Please be advised that the BBC's "Rule 2" is an clear and
compelling infringement of copyrights held by the Monty
Python ensemble. Only Monty Python could frame such
gibberish as a "policy" or rule. As such, you have written
in the unique style of Monty Python, and owe each of the
surviving cast members at least 200 Euros a week for life
(or, 185.27 in real money.)

You do have one possible defense - Monty Python were trying
to be funny, and the BBC is not even aware of how laughable
they are.

jfischer

(...and where are you hiding the BBC World Service?
Some of us paid thousands for shortwave radios,
and travel to places where internet connections
aren't due for another decade!)

Does it really matter?

What on earth?

OK, what off earth?

I like the new smiley:

Nerd42

So Douglas wanted the site to reflect the real world. How can it when we are not allowed to get angry (a very valid emotion)?
otherwise I am happy for the site to reflect the real world, I would be interested to know how others define the real world, I'm sure there would be multifarious interpretations.
I guess I have to accept the screen in front of me and what I bring to it is for these purposes the real world. Does this make any sense?
I think I should get some sleep, at the very least,
keep on hitchin'
Zap

do you think moderators would have a problem with my pulling stuff like this? A1324252
if so, how would I know?
people get mad all the time there, as you can probably see.
Nerd42