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

Hi Dude,

I saw you were new here, so I ought to roll out the red carpet. Welcome to H2G2.

hey! B.

thanks for the hello. i'm still trying to figure this site.

i'll be in touch soon.

all the best.

blue

I'll look forward to it.....

Hey! Mr Bassman,

I,m back. I was gone for a while. Not sure where, but i'm back and writing you a note.

Saw your spot. You look busy. What kind of music do you do?
I'm a big fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan (by the way, what ever
happened to Slut Shannon?). Just bought "In Session", Stevie and
Albert King playing together. WOW!!!

Do you do this for a living?
Since all your gigs seem to be in England, I assume you're from
there...

I live in British Columbia, near a town called Kamloops, on the banks
of the Thompson river. I've been aching to live in this area for over
30 years but always found myself living somewhere up in the wretched
north of the province.

Anyways, I'm not one for long writings, so I'll end. But still, I hope you'll keep in touch. We'll talk about music, or the Guide, or whatever.

Blue

PS: I noticed that my name doesn't always show up in "who's online",
even when I'm there. Well, actually I would have to be there to see
the "who's online" window, right? Or do I? Yes, I think so....
I expect it may have something to do with the way I tweaked
my browser to fool it into thinking that it's accepting cookies.
If you can't reach me at H2G2, write me at
[email protected]

blue,

Your name should show up in orange. Maybe you could "Ask H2G2" on the login page to see if they can help, I'm sure they can!!

Catch you later!!

Hi Researcher 143974 - blue
Hmmm... that's awkward. Do you prefer to go by blue? Or the full name?

I happened to be wandering by and noticed you were relatively new here. Bassman has done a good job of welcoming you, though.

As far as the 'who's online', the way I understand it: it's based on whether you've called for a page or refreshed a page within the past 'x' minutes, and that list is refreshed every 'y' amount of time. So it's not that unusual to be online and not show up. The who's online list may not have updated yet, or you may not have called for a page in a while. Hope that helps.

As far as other things that may help:

If you need anything, have any questions, or just want to say Hi , simply reply to this message, or feel free to visit me at my home by clicking on my name above.

There's a handy list of links at the Quick Reference Guide, http://www.h2g2.com/A344756 including links for help on putting together pages, writing guide entries and finding some interesting forums. There's a friendly group at the Newcomer's Welcome Page at http://www.h2g2.com/A5752 and a very helpful group of Assistant Community Editors (ACEs) -- one or more of them may drop by to say Hi sometime... or feel free to visit them first at http://www.h2g2.com/A214796

h2g2 is a wonderful, wacky, place and I think you'll really enjoy it. Have fun playing with your home page layout, write some interesting guide entries, comment on or contribute to other entries, and get involved in the amazing community of forums. If you'd like help finding a café, bar, or swimming pool here, let me know.

If all of this is confusing, just stick this fish in your ear

Redbeard, Chief Political Operative
Celery/Webjello 2000 Campaign
http://www.h2g2.com/A383267

blue.

I've done quite a bit of all sorts of stuff over the years. When I lived in Scotland, I played in a band called All The Kings Men, who did a reasonable ammount of original material. The guy who was the leading light behind the band was a great songwriter. I used to walk round work whistling his stuff all the time. I was however unceremoniously ejected from the band, because as a serving member of the RAF I couldn't "GO" with the band if they got famous.

I joined a weddings and functions type band after that, doing a lot of Blues Brothers and Commitments type stuff. It was fun, but not really what I wanted to play, so I left to join a rock covers band - Barking Mad. This band gigged quite extensively across the north of Scotland, eventually splitting as two of us were being made redundant and moving away.

I'm currently playing in a bend called Strangers, once again doing Rock covers. I'm trying to get the band to do a little wider selection of stuff, but I keep getting the "We're famous for this" type of attitude, which frankly sucks. Never mind things aren't all bad. If you go to my homepage and click on the picture, you can go see where we're playing.

Hello Redbeard(Loremaster, Celery for Prez CPO),(Yes, I can see now how awkward my handle is.)

Blue is what I'd shoot for.

Thanks for your note. It's always nice to be greeted when in a new place. Saw your page. Lots of good stuff. I'll be a regular visitor.

You've opted for the non-goo style, and I noticed that you have the "who's online" button. I must
protest! Not fair for us GooLovers.....

Not that I'm obsessed with the "who's online" button, but it's just that I often put the binary crowbar
to my browser, and I like to make sure that it's working ok. So, I just wondered if not seeing my name
in the "who's online" window had anything to do with it. Because it seems that H2G2 likes cookies, and
I don't.

I am absolutely delighted to see the Guide in existence. I want to familiarize myself with the web version of it as soon as possible, but there's a lot to cover.

Please, tell me about the cafe, bar, and swimming pool. I didn't even know about those.
And while you're at it, can you tell me how the chat works at Floor 42?

So long, and thanks for... the fish (wink wink)

Blue

Hi! Bassman,

You must really enjoy being a musician.

Did I make a mistake? You're in Scotland right? Not England.

I done did visit your page. That's how I assumed you were busy. From the gig schedule.
So your compadres are not blues fan then, are they? Too bad. It seems blues is always hot anywhere.
Especially when it kicks ass. (Ever heard Jimi Hendrix's "Jelly 292" ?)

Anyways, my old Bassman, keep on truckin', stay cool and worship Zarquon.

Blue

Ok! Now I'm really jealous.

I just went to your page, and now it's the blue-goo, and it's got a whole slew of "who's online" links.

How didja dodat?????

Blue

Ok! Now I'm really confused.

I just accessed your page without registering and it was not the blue-goo.

Do you have two pages?

Quick, give me the fish.

Blue

Here's your .

Greetings, fellow researcher! My name is Big 'Evil' Dan, and I am an H2G2 Guardian Angel. If you need any help around here, don't be afraid to ask me, or any of the other Saints. (To get in touch, you can visit http://www.h2g2.com/A300943, visit my page by clicking on my name above, or just hitting reply).

The Goo/Non-Goo problem you are having is not really a problem at all. The skin you have set is what YOU view pages in. If you are not registered, it defaults to Alabaster. If you are signed in, and you have set it to ClassicGOO, you will view other people's pages in GOO. It's one page, in two skins.

I know you were given links above, but here are the ones I give, on the off chance that some are different.

Newcomers Welcome Page
http://www.h2g2.com/A5752

ACEs Homepage
http://www.h2g2.com/A214796

H2G2 Quick Reference Guide (A large group of links)
http://www.h2g2.com/A344756

Guardian Angels New Users Guide
http://www.h2g2.com/A352667

Ah, I see you got visited by an ACE! Hi, Dan!

Blue, I am a true blue goo user. A founding member of the Goo Fan Club http://www.h2g2.com/A362828 , and the creator of most of the "It's better in Goo" graphics around.

Basically here's how it works...
When you set your skin preference, ALL pages show up in that preference regardless of what the page owner wants. So when your preferences are set for Goo, all pages you visit will be goo. However, the default skin is Alabaster. Anyone who comes into the site without logging in sees pages in Alabaster. It's possible that when you visited my page and saw alabaster you got logged out and were actually retrieving it as a 'visitor' rather than as Blue (perhaps that cookie business).

Now it is possible to view a page in the alternate skin by adding
?skin=alabaster
or
?skin=classic
to the end of the address (except in forums). Hence if you are in alabaster and click on my goo logo, you'll be able to see my page in goo (I do that so that alabaster visitors will see it in it's proper goo glory!)

As far as the buttons on my page... One of the few advantages of alabaster is the who's online button, so I decided to create one for my page so I wouldn't have to go alabaster to use it. It's basically a graphic I created, with code to create the same popup window.

If you want a who's online text link on your page, simply add (in GuideML mode)
Who's online

If you want it as a button, then you need something like:

(that's using the button image on my server)

Next: I don't know how the chat on Floor 42 works 'cause I haven't been there

Finally: For cafés, bars, swimming pools, space centres and much more here, visit some of the forums. Each of these are places that are created by researchers here (They create a page which marks the site, and the message threads at the bottom of that page become the interactive place itself.) Go to some of these forums, read the top thread or two, see what's going on, how active it is, etc. and then just join in once you get a sense of it. People are very friendly. It's not like real-time chat. Some conversations take place close to real time, others take place over weeks. See the list of clubs and forums at the bottom of http://www.h2g2.com/A344756 and try some out.

Enough for now. Hope this helps.

Redbeard, Chief Political Operative
Celery/Webjello 2000 Campaign
http://www.h2g2.com/A383267

Just thought I'd mention that I'm not an ACE, Redbeard. I'd hate to be busted for ACE impersonation or something.

Oops, that's right. Sorry, Dan.
But you are a Guardian Angel.

And a howdoobeedootooyootoo Mr Big "E".

Thanks for the info, I'll visit your spot as soon as I'm done writing this.

So what exactly is a Guardian Angel? (oooohh! so much to learn...so much to see.)

Blue

Hi there Rb,

Now I understand everything (and I have a headache).

I also have renewed enthousiasm for collecting Comodore 64's.

Later partner,

Blue

The Guardian Angels are a group of volunteers who visit new users and help them get settled in. The ACEs (Assistant Community Editors) mentioned above do almost the same thing, but without the wings and other cool angelic powers.

If you need an angel watching your back, I'm your man.

blue,

I used to live in Scotland on my final tour in the Royal Air Force, I live in Huntingdon now.