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

http://www.h2g2.com/A504217

An article about the wonderful letters that were omitted from the present-day English alphabet - and other, perhaps revolutionary, revelations...

Amusing but I don't think it will make it as an edited entry – however the premise might be good for a more serious entry; after all what happened to æ, þ and ð, which were all once part of the English alphabet.

If it was included in the guide, it may be found a bit confusing without knowing:

a.) What the letters looked like.
Æ.) How they were pronounced.
Þ.) An example of a word they were contained in.

I have to agree with Happy - unless h2g2 runs an April Fool's special, this ain't getting on the front page... I was actually thinking it was true until I got to the bit about Edgar Overend...

To the sin bin, I suspect. Or the h2g2 humour guide, possibly...

That's magic! And I'm sure it must be true - there must be some awful conspiracy by vested interests in high places to keep the truth from the people.

Nice but into the Sin Bin with it, however as I found with the Marzipan Gin article which I believed and reconmended, search engines have picked it up, so now according to Alta Vista there is a drink called Marzipan Gin, and soon I am sure according to search engines a 27th letter, how soon till it gets incorported in serious works.

My less than serious article on Central Place Theory to measure beach popularity is found by Yahoo and already has one link to it from an academic site.

Are we writing stuff which will become fact?

What happens when someone uses a guide entry that is less than real (fiction) suffers loss, harm etc and sues H2G2. MAybe we should have a disclaimer on all entries, "this may be b*****s...."

CH

I posted directly to the article, not wanting to be counted among the naysayers, or worse, have some think my praise was 'ironic'.

Still, anyone know what happened to æ, þ and ð ? The þ would be very useful as it equates to 'th'.

http://www.h2g2.com/A292682 - related article.

I *love* the 27th letter. I wish it were true - sigh! It deserves some recognition - it's not too subtle for "So long and thanks for laughing", is it?

The entry is very good. Well written stuff like this deserves recognition. There should be some kind of something - a stamp of approval by the Guide. It doesn't need editing, it's fine the way it is. If it's put in the joke section it spoils the joke. To start off with, you're lulled into thinking it's real. That would be lost if you knew you were reading something that wasn't serious right from the start.

...write "Boom, boom" at the end of it?

...write "Boom, boom" at the end of it?

We seem to have identified a problem with the 'earth edition' of the Guide. At least a bone of contention between those who would send 'the 27th letter' to the sin-bin without hesitation and those who see its value and want a way to preserve it.
I have made a suggestion at http://h2g2.com/A506675 which invites your further comments and proposals.

We have AGGH, it is þe unedited guide.

The whole change to edited/unedited was supposed to help people view the unedited guide as a valid resource in its own right - which it is, of course, but 'unedited' still sounds like it may be disorganised and/or unconfirmed.

Maybe we should get consultants in for a rebranding

Looneytunes entry deserves to be read and recommended to others. But now that it has undergone Peer Review and failed to be approved on grounds of 'heresy' it will forever lack the 'official stamp of recommendation' which attracts readers. It has been hurled into the sin-bin and suffered the cluck-clucking of the humourless.
While this is wrong in the particular, it is the general dismissal of all absurdist entries of this type which worries me. Such a policy not only fails the philosophy of the Founding Fodder but discourages others from hoping to entertain and elucidate in a similar style.

I beg your pardon? Has this entry been removed from Peer Review?

As posted by Mark Moxon (h2g2's editor) in a Soapbox forum at the h2g2 Feedback section - where people are discussing the merits of Peer Review - after I mentioned the existence of this thread.

I think it says more about the human condition than Peer Review...

...though it does prove that we managed to change the original concept of the site so much that pure humour is not only not suitable for the Edited Guide (yet!), but it's actively hounded out. That's quite a relief after the idiocies of the launch Guide.

Nice entry, though. We're going to have to have a pure humour section soon, I can see...

Hmmm what about if you made the entry factual by ending with something like ......

And so went the 27th Letter as written by Loonytunes. As a piece of humour it became legendary sparking off debate to the purposes of the Guide.