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

I've always been told that a lot of people look at h2g2, even if they don't log in and make comments. The BBC have never divulged how many hits h2g2 gets, but various italics have intimated that it is an impressive number.

I've always suspected this was just to keep us writers contributing to the site. But I found out something the other day. I wrote an entry on Irish Neolithic Tombs. I included an external link to a site which gives a description of one of the tombs. The author of that site contacted me and asked me to change it because he is moving is his site to a different address. He said "We got a lot of people coming to our site through that link, so it is worth getting it right". If that is the case, then it's true that there are lots of surfers looking at h2g2. It's good news.

I'm wondering if it was better some time back. At one stage, any edited entry tended to appear as one of the top search items in Google.

I have had a similar phenomenon with one or two of my edited entries, in particular the Feral Children entry I wrote a few years ago. It has received loads of contributions from unnamed posters, and last year it was published (with my permission) in a textbook for 10-11 year olds in the UK. I have also spotted extracts from some of my entries in other places across the Net.

It's a nice feeling to know that other people have been visiting the site and reading the entries. Keeps us going, I guess!

Somebody said recently that Google no longer searches through h2g2. I don't know if this is true, but it's a shame if so.

I think the problem with google is that it prioritises results according to the number of links to the entry rather than the relevance to the search, and as few external sites will link into the guide then our entries tend to end up waaaaaaaay down the list of results.

One thing that h2g2 doesn't do very well is making its functionality clear from the get go. I looked at its entries from time to time for years - and even added the odd comment. It was only recently that I discovered its writing/ community aspects. Even nowadays there are lots of crooks and nannies that I am somewhat vague about (How do I start a Forum? What is The Post? The only information on these appears to be buried deep within Help pages (locked in a cupboard within a room marked 'Beware of the Leopard').

It used to be that h2g2 entries always came up top of the search because the BBC site is linked to from so many places. But Google doesn't find my recent Edited Entries at all. It's not just that they're way down the list.

Traveller in Time counting hits
"As far as I have seen only entries linked to from outside the BBC are indexed by Google. The BBC pages do request the spiders from search engines not to follow links.

If you have any question just ask, there are lots willing to help you. It is part of the community building, rather then written in dull manuals. "

Incidentally...hit counters can yield some interesting results. I used to run a recipe site, now defunct (Flaming Pie: Vegetarian Recipes With Attitude. 'The site that elevates tofu to a foodstuff'). Because I included some Turkish recipes, plus there was a quote from an Edward Lear poem on one page, I got a surprising number of hits for people googling for 'Turkish Pussy'

Jim Lynn barred search engine spiders from the conversation forums a few years ago because of the load they put on the servers, slowing the site down too much (as if that was possible ), but I doubt that he's barred them from entries too - the BBC wouldn't be too keen on losing all that free advertising.

I found one of my recent Edited Guide entries on Google, but only after I introduced quite a few search terms. The entries appear to be there, but they are not being prioritised.

Traveller in Time on his head
"The search engines did find my nickname.
< F64235?thread=576616&skip=60#p6497991 >

I think the search engines do find cached /dna/ pages. "

I seldom Google...I like....http://ask.com/...You know...Ask Jeeves.....That is how I found h2g2 back in Nov....Now I visit often....Ed, I like all the nooks & Crannies...It makes the journey an adventure....Like, what can you discover..??............................. ... ..

http://ask.com/ ..... How did the word ..you..end up with that url..?? This one is a more direct one....Hopefully....... ...

>>Ed, I like all the nooks & Crannies

Fairy nuff. But isn't there a danger that they are perceived as a little elitist and exclusionary? I certainly think that they should be shown at a higher level than somewhere near the bottom of page 5 of Getting Started under Help...or wherever they're buried. A mention on the home page, maybe? Or - given the scarcity of real estate there - at least a link (add 'Features' to the What is h2g2 page - or possibly even to the menu?)

Good user interface design is about advertising the functionality! 'Where can I go from here?'. At the moment it's only touted as an on-line encyclopedia (a poor person's Wikipedia?) - not as a cooperative community.

Oh...and if anyone is interested in further guidance on usability issues, I can provide a professional consultancy service at competitive rates

Edward, would you like to take this issue to the Community Soapbox? You're welcome to keep discussing it here in my journal, but I don't think any of the italics will see it here.

I would have already if I'd known there was one, and would now if I knew where to find it....see what I mean?

Click on Feedback, then on Community. That's the Community Soapbox, where serious discussions of the efficacy and functionality of h2g2 take place.

"I think the problem with google is that it prioritises results according to the number of links to the entry rather than the relevance to the search"

Google looks at both those things - relevance to search terms first, then how many links to it, and the words they use to link to it, and then the importance of the site that is linking to it (as far as I know, and I used to sit with a chap who knows his Search).

Not even the BBC search engine finds h2g2 content very well.

But congrats on having a well read entry! It is possible to find the stats for individual entries, but not being on the inside anymore, I can't look them up for you.

There is a general 'rule of thumb' that for every person who writes, there are ten people who read, and that's not only h2g2, that's most communities.

Traveller in Time trying to calculate
"Does this mean that for every message the external site got, there have been a hundred readers of the entry ? "

I don't understand your mathematics there, Traveller.