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

You've been signed up to h2g2 for a little while but it looks like you slipped through our welcome net, so apologies for the delay!

I'm Vip, one of h2g2's resident <./>ACEs</.>, and I'm here to give you a guiding hand around the maze that is h2g2. Whether you're here to write, read, or just out of curiosity, we're glad to have you. Our founder, Douglas Adams, wrote a welcome message for us all at A157349.

h2g2 can be roughly split into two close-knit parts - the Edited Guide, and the Community. The Edited Guide is the purpose of h2g2, and the Community are those who help to build it - and have fun along the way!

The Edited Guide
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The Edited Guide consists of the Edited Guide Entries that you see on the <./>FrontPage</.>. We made it to our 10,000th Entry in November 2010.

In order to expand the Guide, we need people who want to write , but also those who want to review and read the submissions as they come through. Writing-Beginners is a great start for those who are interested in writing, and PeerReview is where entries are put up for (friendly!) scrutiny before hopefully being picked to go into the Guide. If you have something to contribute I would recommend you read the Writing-Guidelines to check that what you want to do fits with the current ideals of the Guide.

Newcomers aren't expected to write their first Entry in GuideML, the language of the Edited Guide, but if you want to have a look and see if you could handle it, take a peek at A69370509.


The Community
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If your writing falls outside the scope of the Edited Guide, don't think you can't contribute - you are always able to create Unedited Entries and journal entries, plus there is still the Community groups that can showcase your talent.

If you write personal accounts, fiction or poetry, then the <./>UnderGuide</.> may well be the place for you. There is also h2g2's very own newspaper, <./>ThePost</.>, which is run by some very friendly people who are always happy to have new contributors (and readers, of course!).

The Community don't just write, we talk quite a bit as well. A good place to start is <./>Askh2g2</.> which is a springboard into the current active Community. You can also find out who is online this minute by clicking here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/Online?orderby=ID&thissite=1.

Finally, at A42397158, an old-timer Researcher has done his best to tell you everything a newbie needs to know, and a glossary has been created at A8468742 with some of the more h2g2-centric words that we use. After ten years you end up creating a few bits of history along the way!

If you ever need help or a friendly face, all you need to do is reply to this message and I'll get back to you when I'm next online.


Vip

<./>ACE</.>