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

I've been thinking about where to post this, and have come to the conclusion that it's an editorial issue.

The current system of rushing entries from Peer Review to the Front Page without a real sub-edit merely because they happen to be ones for which a picture (however tenuous its connection to the content) can be found, is wrong. I know you do your best, Eds, but you're busy, and a lot of what's been hitting the FP lately could have been significantly improved by a good sub-editor.

On the other hand, there have been excellent entries languishing in the Coming Up queue for weeks and months merely because there isn't a stock photograph for them. (I've even been indirectly accused of favouritism for illustrating one entry and not another, the latter still not having made FP...)

This is absurd, and I'm not happy with it.

At the moment, we only have three active Community Artists - one of whom is still learning the ropes - and the Photographers' system means that they work too slowly to supply pictures for entries before they hit the FP.

Something's got to change.

1) We could use more CAs (preferably ones who actually know what they're doing), but recruitment attempts haven't been terribly successful. I've read old conversations that worried about 17 active CAs being too few, and hoping to double that - so surely, less than 1/10 of the ideal number is bound to lead to frustration.

2) Can we just supply a blank or neutral image for other Entries? Maybe one for each of the general categories? It could be used when there are no others available, and just on the FP rather than on the Entry as well. (Similar to what's already being done with the University ones)

3) We could ditch the picture on the FP as standard altogether. I'd rather none at all than a contrived alt text on a stock photo that doesn't really fit.

4) Why not re-use old blobs? We've got quite a few of them by now, and many are neatly sorted in various libraries. I'm sure we could even find volunteers to search for suitable ones.



I like the illustrations supplied by the Artists (quite un-humbly), and the Photographers do a good job, too. Sometimes, the stock photos are actually pertinent, eg for Entries about celebrities. A picture adds interest to an entry, attracts the reader, and can help explain the topic.

But if the picture, or lack thereof, becomes the deciding factor in which entries actually get published, it's counterproductive. Especially when we're just running one entry ahead, like now, with only enough pictures to last us till tomorrow.

Hear hear!

I could be cynical and say that the Eds use any opportunity to plug BBC TV shows, but that wouldn't be fair. Many of the TV stills are very appropriate to the entry, and the odd tangential one doesn't do any harm.

Today's isn't ideal purely because it's not obvious that the lady is carrying a baby monitor - it could be a phone for all we know. Personally, I'd have chosen a BBC library picture of baby equipment - anything really - or even a picture of a baby.

The problem will be eased when the number of entries increases, giving the Editors more choice, but I think the recent CA artwork has been brilliant, too.

Oh, don't get me wrong - the contrived pictures are a bit irritating; you can tell when they're clutching at straws. But what really annoys me is the entries not being published that *are* sub-edited while others skip the entire process - which doesn't do the entry any good - merely because there is a picture that could be made to fit. That's giving the pictures too much power and significance.

"More choice" will still mean only those entries with pictures get their spot on the FP, until we have so many that there can be multiple entries per day again. But that will only be a temporary fix, because PR will slow down again. We can't just hope that won't happen. It's a problem.

(And glad as I am that you like the recent illustrations, each one takes several hours to get right. We can't keep up that level of production. I can't do much of anything this month on account of being busy writing my bachelor thesis. KB is on holiday, leaving only newbies and dormant members in the group.)

I can't draw to save my lifeso I can't help with the CA issue but I agree about unsubbed articles hitting the FP so quickly, while others languish in the pending queue. I have wondered whether they're being run by lawyers, etc, but I guess we'll not be told that kind of thing.

GB

Mala is right on this one. I don't see any reason why some entries that don't lend themselves to illustration easily must have a picture forced on them. Of course, this was easier in the days when 5 entries a day were published, as there was a very good chance that 20% or more of the entries in the queue could be illustrated without too much difficulty.

Recently, I've seen an entry of mine be submitted to PR, accepted, italic-subbed and FP'd, all in the time that another entry was languishing in the "Returned from Sub-Editor" section of <./>Comingup</.>. That's silly and very irritating to writers. After all, as much as pictures and blobs can add to an entry, it's the writing that is the heart of the guide, and so keeping writers (especially new ones) interested and happy should be a top priority.

They do sometimes forget about them. One of mine sat on the coming-up page for about 6 months, and when I reminded them they said it had slipped off their radar, or something.

Well, four of them are Stretcher entries, at least two dating back from May (returned from sub)

isn't this the reason the poking stick was invented?

I can't disagree with the point - the quality of the writing has to come first - and that means it needs to be properly subbed.

I think Mal's point 2 is a very good idea. We often have Entries which, while they might be hard to find a suitable image (or create a blob) for, fall into certain themes. For example, a good "Medicine" or "Health" illustration could be re-used for appropriate Entries. Not only would this be more sustainable for the Community Artists, but it would probably result in a better illustration.

It wouldn't have to be so rushed, for one thing!

We have 7 categories in Life, 5 in The Universe and 18 in Everything - that's a total of 30, which I'm sure we can do between us, or find something suitable for in the library. For example, "Health & Healing" could easily be this, or something like it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/oldblobs/white/120247.gif

Today's FP Entry was ONLY PICKED THIS MORNING - somehow, I doubt there was time for subbing. Good thing Alex generally writes well anyway.

I'd been wondering what they'd run, seeing as there was nothing with a picture in the Coming Up queue...

That has to be a record!

Mind you, it was picked by 'a' Scout nearly 2 weeks ago

Well, yes. It was on the Recommendations page for a while. But that's been ignored lately, too - things can be on there for weeks until they're suddenly needed, and never even get queued for subbing.

I presume the Eds are very busy with the site redesign, because else I'd have to be uncharitable and say they're not doing their jobs very well lately.

The Eds have been very busy, with one thing and another

We're really sorry you feel this way, Malabarista - we've had an incredibly heavy workload these past few weeks: dealing with lots of internal BBC issues (regarding future technical pan-BBC changes that don't appear on the outside to offer anything to h2g2 - but that we must comply with in order to keep up to speed with the rest of the organisation and in order for the site to survive) on top of preparing for the MOT in addition to trying to get the redesign process underway on very limited resources. That's on top of our normal daily tasks. Things are going to get busier while we continue to do this and cope with changes.

We're going to address the issue about pictures on the front page later when we get a bit of time, but please bear with us. You've done so much fantastic work and I'm sorry it feels like we're not supporting you - we really love what you do, especially the way you've managed to completely revitalise the Artists scheme. It's just we're stretched to the absolute limit at the minute.

Sorry, Natalie. I didn't mean to make that sound like a rant against you I realise you've been very busy, and I apologise if it came over as an attack. It was merely frustration.

But it can't make it easier for you, either, having the whole process come to a screeching halt constantly for the lack of a few pixels.

If I weren't so busy, I'd get right to work designing those generic images for days when none is available, but I'm also up to my eyeballs in work. (Giving me no right to complain about others having the same problem )

Thanks Malabarista; I didn't see it as a rant, I just wanted you to know that we share your frustration and wish we could spend more time dealing with issues like this.

The generic images are an excellent idea, but it might be a good idea to hold fire on them just now as in the redesign (when the generic images will be massively helpful) the front page images have different dimensions (that's something else we need to explain when we know exactly what's happening!)

It won't cause problems with the old images on Entries (we've changed image specifications before - they remain the same on the old Entries) but it will mean we can't 'recycle' the old images for the front page without resizing them.

(Hope you're managing to get your thesis done!)

Ah, right - so the old blobs can't be re-used for the FP. Fair enough - I'll find some appropriate old blobs and slap them on a square background; that's a matter of a few minutes I can do even now

Ok - I've finished some and will send them to you.