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

Hi Sal,

Asteroid Lil and I are arranging a fashion show to be held in the Atelier gardens on November 7th.

I'm designing a collection of special occasion wear for non-humanoids and, as you are an incredibly handsome beast, I was wondering if you would like to be a model. This involves you in no effort whatsoever unless you would like to join in with the design process.

I see you in formal eveningwear. Think 'Pierce Brosnan'... that sort of thing. I think black will set off your distinctive colouring nicely.

To give you an idea of what we have in mind, here is the ballgown i am going to model myself. http://mcbrideweb.future.easyspace.com/greendress.jpg



Amy the Ant

Hello Amy

How nice of you to notice that about me. I'd be delighted of course. Black and red sounds good (well dangerous actually - just what a Salamander needs in fact). The other Salamanders will be absolutely green - with envy I mean - even the ones that are normally black or red.

You look stunning in your ball gown, especially with your antenna positioned in that jaunty, devil-may-care fashion.

I can't wait to see myself in my new whistle and flute.

Sal

Thank you for being a model. you can admire yourself at http://www.h2g2.com/A468885

And please drop into the party too. I'll have a waiting for you.

Absolutely fabulous!

Well, you can't help but be utterly gorgeous.

Please drop by at the party http://www.h2g2.com/F38024?thread=87027&latest=1 Everyone will be so pleased to see you.

Sorry I didn't make it to the party Amy. I seem to have carelessly picked up a virus or something. I've done hardly anything but sleep since Friday evening. Normal service will be resumed ... or should I say: I plan to start pretending to be normal again just as soon as all my functions have been restored. I will sally forth once more like a silly salamander! whenever I wake up properly

Sal

Hi Amy

I'm starting to wake up again now. It looks as though your show and party went swingingly. Well done. Congratulations I thought I looked like the bees knees - stunning - and so did everyone else. Did anyone get sloshed at the party? Hope all the posh frocks survived the after-show shindig.

I just popped over to say I can now see why you were so bothered when your Pharaoh Ant article went into the editing process. I may need to ask your advice at some point. My 2 articles have just gone into the process together with the same editor. He's working on a version of my Cicadas article that's over a month old. I was given to understand that it was ok to carry on editing, up to the time the editors started their job. So there's all sorts of little things and one big thing missing from the version being edited. Also, my bacteriophage article seems to be getting mangled for no apparent reason. I've left a couple of notes for the editor but he hasn't replied yet.

Do you know how this editing business works? I expected a couple of alteration to get the articles to conform to h2g2 standards - like putting a quote into italics (which looks wobbly and awful on screen - but it's an h2g2 standard, so what can you say). The Bacteriophage article seems to have been slightly stripped of full stops and perfectly reasonable little sentences have been clumsily scrunched together into bigger sentences that read like 2 little sentences that have a comma where a full stop ought to be. Also, where I had viruses on the very edge of what we think of as life, the editor now has them "lurking" on the very edge of what we think of as life . There are several other things. I thought the editing process was to correct GuideML, formatting, spelling, grammatical and factual errors. I'm not sure what to do or say without sounding churlish and ungrateful.

Anyway, I'll stop my whinging now and hope things improve. Speak to you later.
Sal

The fashion show went very well. Did you look at the very big version of yourself? I think you look quite edible. And I'm not a veggie so watch out.

The party wasn't very lively in the end. I think we hit a bad weekend.

I've caught your virus - I'm sure I must have got it from you. I feel very poorly atm.

With regard to the editing, I don't know what to advise. There certainly seems to be an aim at a greater element of co-authorship than I expected. It has made me very wary of putting further articles forward. I think the messages you have left for the editor in question are very fair. Perhaps you should drop a note to Mark Moxon like I did. At least it resulted in the in-house editing team removing some of the dodgier punctuation. I have learned to live with the dumbing down. I just don't look at the edited version of my pharaoh ants article anymore.

I don't think there's an in-house style that the editors are supposed to aim at. I suspect that the training in minimal - as in "read the guidelines and get on with it." The Powers in the Towers are certainly very protective of their sub-editors and can get a little defensive so it is probably not worth taking the matter too far.

It certainly looks as if there was some delay between the article being sent to the sub-editor and it actually being moved to his page. Hence he is working on an old version. This is bound to happen. It is probably wise to leave the article alone once it has been accepted for editing. We live and learn, eh?

I'm going to crawl back to bed now.

Amy

I certainly did look at the big version of myself - and everyone else. It was very well done. Very impressive! I thought the facility for cycling through the models one at a time was a good idea.

Sorry to hear you've got the lurgy too. Can't offer you any grapes but either or both of these might help . Also, keep warm and get plenty of sleep.

Thanks for the advice. I'll see what develops and I might drop Mr Moxon a note if it starts to look desperate. Perhaps the editor isn't around - no response to my messages yet.

It does seem an odd way for h2g2 to encourage researches to put in lots of time and effort to research subjects and write articles about them. They must think people won't mind having all their hard work gratuitously mangled. You're now wary of putting further articles forward, I have another article in the pipeline but I'm pausing to see what happens to the 2 now undergoing surgery and I wonder who else has had second thoughts as a result of "over enthusiastic" editing. Editing other people's work is a bit of a skill. Not everyone can do it well. As for co-authorship, well isn't that when 2 or more people have done the research and written the article together?

I bet DNA wouldn't take very kindly to someone rewriting his work and making it worse rather than better.

As you say, we live and learn!

Hope you soon feel better.
Sal

I am feeling better today, thank you. The and seem to have done the trick.

I haven't seen the editor in question on the list recently so perhaps he is yet to read your messages.

Good luck!

Amy

Hi Amy

Long time no 'see'. Hope you're well and everything's going according to plan. Bet you're busy.

I just thought I'd let you know my article that was undergoing mangling has been restored to a wholesome condition. Sam and Ashley sorted it out almost exactly as I requested and then Pseudemys dropped me a line. He was very nice about all my pestering and moaning. I'm well satisfied with the result and now I'm trying to find the time and energy to get on with my next article which is slowly taking shape on my page.

I mention this mainly because your Children's Programming Languages article hasn't gone to Peer Review yet. (It hasn't, has it?) Although I know your reluctance is mainly because of your experience with your Pharaoh Ants article, I thought I might have reinforced the impression that editing is a bit of a lottery. My experience of the process has now changed though and I have a more positive view of it. No doubt different researchers have different experiences - I've come across some very strongly expressed complaints from people who've been unimpressed with the treatment of their articles. Anyway, my experience, at this point in time, is positive. So there you have it. If you feel like taking a risk and giving the system a chance ...

I must go and drink coffee now. Speak to you later.

Sal