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

Please inspect this for peer review.

Thanks.

http://www.h2g2.com/A456176

I spent about 10 seconds looking at it just now. It's got some good information, but the length of the title makes the text of the article run off the screen. That makes it very difficult to read your article.

Please shorten the length of your title to save us all some eye-strain.

Wampus

Hmmmm...

It's a good and amusing entry, no question. I enjoyed reading it.

I do wonder, though, whether it meets the criteria laid out in http://www.h2g2.com/Writing-Guidelines and the Peer review page itself for Edited entries:
- "The entry is, as far as you are concerned, finished": the article ends with "to be continued".
- "Be Instructive, Informative and Factual": it may well be based in fact, but does it contain information which the reader could use, or which gives the reader an insight into the Human Condition? Borderline.

For my own taste, this is more like a very good journal entry, or a personal anecdote (perhaps we should have a central place for these, but we don't yet). But it's not clear-cut, and I'm open to arguments. Do any other Scouts want to give their opinion?

GVI

I think it is instructive - if we knew what uni this was at, for example, then people going to that uni would have extra information. It also is another revealing insight into the mind of the beauracrat. Namely - they don't have a mind...

But yes - TBC must be vaped.

myre - "You don't have to be a peer to help review Peer Review - get stuck in!"

OK, I will take your advice. I went through and made it first person, and also put in the University name. I know TBC must go, but I don't think it's finished yet. In a few weeks I will update it and hopefully give it a happy ending.

If it's not finished, then it ought to be moved to the writing workshop, until it is finished - so you may find that this thread is moved there in the medium-near future.

This might work as 'a personal perspective on parking at uni' or somesuch... or it might not. I'm really unsure... Let's see what everyone else thinks, shall we?

Move seconded.

Don't be discouraged - the very best shirts need ironing just to work out those little wrinkles...

My thoughts .....

1) very good entry, nicely written and structured, very entertaning and conveys the frustration of your situation well.
2) lets hope you get that spot in H6 soon.
3) I don't see this as a guide entry. As other replyers have said it is more of a journal entry or story told down the pub. I don't see how it could ever provide information to anyone, other than as a longwinded (but enjoyable) example of the type of bureaucracy you find at BSU. Good if you were writing an entry on bureaucracy ....
4) lets hope you get that spot in H6 soon!

On reflection you might be able to get this to be an entry if you went down the route of depersonalising it and extracting the main points of your entry.For example ....

Parking at Ball State Uni

Parking at BSU can be a difficult thing. Although there are many parking spaces allocated to students, gaining acess to one is difficult.

Each accomodation block (H1-H6) has spaces reserved but to get one of these you need a sticker. Stickers are allocated from the shop. Occasionally there are extra stickers available however these become available for sale on a Friday morning at 7:30am. Often the night before, it will look as if a slumber party is going on until you realise that it is in fact people sleeping overnight to be at the front of the queue. It seems that arriving anytime after 6am will guarantee you a long wait in a queue to arrive at the "SOLD OUT" notice. Those getting up at 4am have a good chance of being able to see the front of the queue and they find that taking a CD player and homework assist the long wait.


Etc, etc. Some of the detail is probably a bit wrong but you get the picture. Try writing it as advice for other people and you shouldn't go too far wrong. What do the scouts think?

PS Lets hope you get that spot soon

Yep, that's pretty much my view - if you were really enthusiastic you might get other views on the process from other people from uni... that girl you met in the queue might be a good start.... purely for research purposes of course...

Written in the right style, this is the sort of detailed local knowledge that, in my view, the guide is supposed to be about. If the next people to go to BSU know what they're up against thanks to the guide, then we just may have improved the world...

Editorial Note: This Conversation has been moved to the new 'Flea Market' Forum.

This is where we move any Peer Review, Writing Workshop or Alternative Writing Workshop Conversations where the original author has *not* posted to h2g2 for three months. This prevents the active Review Forums from clogging up with dormant entries, but in the Flea Market they can be picked up by others and polished off.