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

The current ACE thing is not as adequate as it might be.
I think there should be a new researcher page that they would arrive at before they get to their personal spaces.

I might be a little slow, but I figured some of it out before I got aced. Some of the other things I had to ask and wait because I didn't have a basic guide all in one place. I had to link to this page and that page and read FAQs.

Now I know that some of the new researchers are not newbies and they can hit the site running. But I also know that I have been here for four or so months and there are things that if I don't ask or I don't go looking for it, I don't encounter it.

I'm saying there ought to be a little quiz or questionnaire to get the feel of where the person is coming from, so when the ACE does get to them, they have an idea of who they are dealing with, instead of having to read the personal space intro, if there is one.

I think that one of the features of the orientation page should be name selection so that we don't have people who are unaware of the preferences button sitting around with a researcher number for days.

Think of it as front end customer service.
I know there is a help button there. I always have problems with those things. They are written by people who hopefully have brains that travel in more normal pathways than mine.

Anyway, thanks for reading this.

If you want clarification, you know where I'll be.

Hi tonsil revenge,

That's an interesting point you make. It's a learning styles thing. Your prefered style is to have things all straightened out before you start. My prefered style is described as 'exploratory' - I make a point of never reading the instructions. What you are suggesting would have put me off h2g2 and I would never have become addicted.

Hmmm. Maybe you /do/ have a point.

No, what we need is more choice. My learning-style needs are adequately met but yours obviously aren't or you wouldn't have taken the time to post. Perhaps we should have a structured training manual available (but not compulsory).

As to the brain pathways of the people who write the help pages... I couldn't possibly comment.



Amy the (Guru) Ant

I don't think you should _have_ to go to and respond to an orientation page, but it should be an option.

One other point, ACEs can't welcome new researcher if they haven't got an intro, so the questionaire seems redundant. Also, I think most ACEs and other volunteers have more time than sense!

I won't comment on that.

I went to the new user's list last night and noticed that a lot of the signees apparently don't bother to go beyond the initial stage.
They haven't done an intro or entered a name.

Now I know a couple hours perusal doesn't constitute research, but I suggest to you that the current process is a bit of a filter.

If the orientation page got them past the first two hurdles and provided the ACEs with a bit of intense information, then the
learning time might be cut down.

I have the benefit of my persistence being greater than my knowledge.
The terms used to describe many processes and shortcuts around here were outside my typewriter tech experience and I had to go around asking,"How do you do that?"

Since many of the answers involved preknowledge, I had to gain that first.

Even something as silly as imitation screenshots would have been a big help to me.
Sometimes a big block of text, no matter how helpful in intent, is a bit overwhelming.

To a newbie, this site can be a bit intimidating. Check out some of the first intros.

i agree with tonsils revenge

i couold have really used a kick up the bum to start with. i have been hnging around here off a on since about 6 months after h2g2.com opened and i still hadnt figured out anything of any actual use until a few months ago. i could do basic forum navingation but that was it.

if, on the blank user space the newbie is issued with there was a link to a newbie guide which assumes pretty much no computer knowledge other than left click and recieve mail then i think it would be greatly comforting. it would be fine to have al the existing FAQ and help pages on links at the bottom of this but they are a bit confusing until you are familiar with the terminology.

a very basic, 'click on the button that looks like thios..(picture) to do this thing, and then click on this button to do this thing...' would be a helpful way to start. also mentioning the 'my space' button would be nice. took me forever to rememebr how to use that!

asume complete idiots. most h2g2 newbies aren't but there are still lots of people out ther who dont have much computer experince and have a lot to contibute if only we can get them in here.

h2g2 is the only comunity site i frequent and makes up about 70% of my internet use. this is because it's fine to ask questiond round here when i get lost, yahoo groups etc. are not that friendly, they like you to stick to the topic. they woudnt like it if you suddenly said 'it's snowing' or 'isn't goo pretty'.

please, help the idiots.

FABT

Yes, you're right. At least in my opinion.

I've just wandered through the Welcome Page and I think it's very good (and mentions the My Space button several times, FABT ) but the links from there very quickly bring Newbies up against features that are not really essential and are only really there to keep some of the Oldies quiet.

The preferences dialogue page is a particular nightmare.

You see, in the olden days, when I was merely a larval stage, the 'filter' to which tonsil revenge refers was even more effective. Only those keen on doing things the hard way survived. Even when I emerged fully in my adult state (less than two years ago), you were considered to be a bit thick if you couldn't roll up your sleeves and edit all those ? and & and = signs in the address bar to manipulate the parameters of the database to your advantage. Many Oldies have been loathe to lose what they consider to be 'facilities' in the various upgrades so we end up with things like the tree gadget. No me though, I'm a very modern ant - I even use alabaster rather than goo.

I knew you'd be shocked.

We need clearer demarkation between essential stuff and the rest of it and a step-by-step guide for those who like that sort of approach.

Anyway, if you still have questions, please ask any of us Gurus and we'll do our best to help.



Amy the (Guru) Ant

Okay. Thanks. Happy for now to have it discussed. Let's see if anybody else weighs in.

I think a notice explaining (briefly) intros and nicknames makes sense. At least intros, since, without one, a poor defenseless newbie can't be rescued from utter confuzzlement (c'mon, you were once there too, you know you were ).

-Spike A.

cant remember what i posted earlier

we deffinatley have different types of researcher that need different info. most of the dumb questions are easily answered by a link to the relevent page, but this just makes things worse because it wil raise a hundred more questions.

personally i think the whole computer thing is terrifying and if it werent for my bro' i woul dnever have gone near one

FABT

The Welcome Page - which is the most obvious link for a Newbie to take from the Front Page is, I think, quite clear on the subject of intros and nicknames. I can't think why the advice doesn't seem to be effective or what else might be done.

I may have just missed it, but I didn't hear about the <./>Welcome</.> page until weeks after I joined. It doesn't exactly stand out. Maybe new users should be directed there instead of to their personal spaces. Or have I just forgotten that they are...

-Spike A.

Okay. Just expressing a concern. If it's not valid, so be it.
I've been out of the loop before.

TTFN

Who says it's not valid?

Looks like you've forgotten that they are, Spike!

Have I? Oh, well, I think the systems fine as it is, then.

-Spike A.

Well, if there is nothing to be done, then it is just my slow learning curve making itself known again, isn't it?

Like I said, I should be used to it by now. I don't see things the way other folks see them. Sometimes I see more, sometimes I see less.

It's just that it often seems that there is a lot of sharpening of swords when they work on the site, while some of us are still knapping away at flint.

This reminds me of something that happened when I was learning to fly. We had trouble with learner drivers being brought onto the airfield to practise on the runways. Such fun... learning to land with the constant danger of a small Nissan dodging out in front of you and attempting a three-point turn.

Anyhow, we had notices made to put up at the entrance to the airfield to warn of flying activity - and to point out that learner drivers were forbidden anyway because it was private property.

More than one parent/driving instructor said, when apprehended, that they had seen and read the notice but that it "wasn't big enough" so they ignored it.

Perhaps the Welcome page needs a bigger font size.

Okay, typing slowly, let me put it this way....y'know the way everybody from Ford Prefect to Slartibartfast treated Arthur Dent?
That's the way I felt. Everybody knew something I didn't.
I didn't know how to click on the links or what a back button was.
It took me a month to learn how to copy and paste links.
I still haven't figured out how to write something in Word or Notepad and transfer it to my space or an entry.
I came to h2g2 the same week I first came on the web.
I had only had my first web ready computer for a week.

I'm saying that some of these introductory pages are written from the height of knowledge with apparently little memory of ignorance.
That there should be a mechanism so that the newbies don't have to wait for the ACEs or have to link to all the links in the ACE's greeting message...which can be a bit intimidating because it feels like a daddy you didn't know you had checking into your room to see what you're doing...an introductory page that they hit before they go to their personal space for the first time, so they don't have to look for anything or wait...

I just went to the Welcome page and the FAQ page and I even went back to when Feisor ACEd me. There was something missing then and I think there is something missing now. A newbies guide to the art of H2ing without making a fool of yourself.
I didn't know those red buttons (in alabaster) did anything for a week!
I just figured out the basics of ML last week.

It's taken me a long time to get used to how computery this place is.
The only thing that kept me going is that I can type and I like to type. If I couldn't write all over the place here, I would have been long gone.

Sorry, my last post was flippant.

I think you've done great. I teach the internet and basic web design to people who classify themselves as novices and you've started from a lot further back than just about any of them and yet you mastered GuideML relatively quickly (most people take much more than 2 months) and you're up to speed with just about everything.

I agree with you that the instructions make assumptions about the familiarity of folks with computers that would bear another examination.

I think that the Editors figured when they wrote it that anyone who could get as far as the Welcome Page knew certain "basics" of computer use and Internet surfing. It seems the Eds. underestimated the accessiblity of h2g2, which I for am overjoyed to hear.

The other side of the coin, of course, is the need for a page for people new to computers as well as h2g2 which makes fewer exceptions. Any volunteers?

-Spike A.