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

One thing I'd like to know: when it comes to forum moderation, which group has priority? New forums startd that are visible to everyone or old hidden forums? Or are the old ones going to remain forever hidden?

They're working through the backlog of postings from newest to oldest - on the asumption that the newest ones are probably the most important.

Entries are similarly being worked newest to oldest. Entries which you reactivate yourself go to the front of the queue.

Eventually they hope to have moderated every forum and entry.

That's what I've gathered so far...

Reactivated entries go to the front of the queue? Uh-oh. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to reactivate the FFFF.

Isn't it ironic that they removed the queue for Pending Entries and now there's a queue for the regular Entries?

What is most ironic is that the BBC wants to moderate everything they don't want the world to hear. How's that for being 'impartial'...

All traditional media are struggling with how to treat new media.

Owner: Jones, we need to have a, what do you call it again Jones?, presence.
Managing editor: The internet Mr Smith.
Owner: That's it. Do it.

The managing editor, who has no internet experience, tries to create an online mirror-copy of the existing newspaper, magazine, TV company, whatever.

Everything you read in newspapers, magazines, hear on radio, watch on TV, has been moderated (edited).

The BBC is, in common with traditional media all over the world, behaving as one would expect them to - as they have always done with their existing businesses - they are moderating the content of websites they own.

I must admit, going by the excessive nanny-warnings posted everywhere, in the case of h2g2 the BBC's lawyers have been involved. Of course, in common with all grey people wearing suits and business frocks, the lawyers have little (or none) internet media experience either.

Because I'm lazy and I think I'll be discussing this whole censorship thing a lot, I've written a few thoughts on it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A516674 . Please tell me what you think...

Very Nice. I think there is quite a bit of this sort of apprehension about (rightly or wrongly)
I've been jotting down similar concerns in my journal on my personal space http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U113478
I really to hope that both our worries are totally misplaced.
*crosses every pre-hensile limb he has to cross* Things will be okay in the end.

I agree with you though, it's nice to be with the beeb if only for no more banner-ads. Damien Hirst's "Dead-Head" really used to bother me in t' ol' dayz

Clive.

Well written guys.

I imagine, over time as things settle down, the worst of the moderation excesses will soften.

One of the things that attracts me to sites like h2g2 is that they are continually evolving.

At least h2g2 didn't disappear - as many similar USA-based sites have.

Well yes. If you think about it, we were all kinda expecting SOMETHING to go wrong when we got back... it's probably something to do with the deep-rooted fear of change us humans have. It COULD be that we're worrying over nothing, that the changes will have little difference, in the long run, to the quality of the Guide we're all here to produce. But I know I'd feel a lot more comfortable without constant reminders that what I'm saying right now might be deemed "unsuitable" by someone, and then be removed.

This has happened to me before... I used to frequent Channel 4's messageboards until one topic, which was the most popular on the board and had been running for near two years was deleted, because we were discussing religion (people from all different sides, and we were being - mostly - amiable in our conversation) and that could lead to offending someone or other. The irony is that if someone had something to say, they could just say they were offended in the forum, and continue the debate! I suppose I'm just paranoid now. That and my hatred for corporatism.

Hmmm.

I'm concerned that h2g2 may be heading towards the cliffs of boredom. I can't think that the Beeb will be terribly happy about challenging or controversial points of view, and so the whole point of the Guide becomes null and void. The original mission statement of the old h2g2 must have stated that the sort of content it particularly didn't want to include was neutered and neutral 'dictionary' style definitions. There are online and paper encyclopaediae (sp?) that fulfil precisely that brief.

H2g2's selling-point (community and 'good will' aside) is its unorthodoxy, the fact that it represents individual opinion (without, of course, becoming a haven for bigotry or other such unpleasantness). Under the auspices of a parent corporation, even one as ostensibly benevolent as the BBC, the interests of the 'parent' will surely override the opinions of the researcher(s). Imagine a food critic who cannot say anything good about a restaurant for fear of promoting it above any other, and who cannot criticise it either for fear of lawsuits or having his copy pulled by a paranoid editor.

This is, of course, merely my fear. I am shocked by the decision to ditch the German parts of h2g2; I appreciate the practicality of the situation (ie the moderation of a multi-language site is extremely time and resource consuming), but is this not a potential own-goal? I think it was Trillian's Child who was running a 'German Lessons' thread or somesuch (I write without having experienced it directly) - has this been removed? If so, is this not contrary to the Beeb's 'education-frienly' stance?

Anyway, I'm sure that this is merely a reaction to the unfamiliar - no-one, I'm sure, would be at all perturbed if h2g2 was a totally new site just started. I for one, though, am anxious that the content of the Guide does not become a dull and frankly unnecessary collection of Bowdlerised encyclopaedia entries, utterly without flavour or panache. I hope very much that these fears are unfounded.

My £0.02. Please feel free to correct me ot to disagree with me.

Firstly, don't forget that h2g2 couldn't carry on as it was - it would have gone broke by Easter (IMHO). Therefore, it either went under, or it got a backer. The BBC is a very good backer, with traditionally deep pockets for things like this. Unfortunately, one has to play by the rules that the parent sets. I know a few BBC lawyers, and believe me, they are very frightening when they have their law cap on. But because they *are* BBC lawyers (and that means they work only for the BBC and its subsidiaries) they are extremely media-savvy, including the internet.

As somebody has mentioned somewhere before, the BBC is the sort of target much more likely to be sued than the little h2g2 was (more money, higher profile) if somebody gets offended. The BBC has a government mandate to stick to in all aspects of the media, and if it breaks the rules set by the government and laid down in parliamentary law, it gets its knuckles well and truly rapped.

I have an inkling that though things may seem quite constrictive at the moment - moderation, link banning etc., I reckon that ways of getting round this will evolve. An example from the geeky hackers world is the use of words like 'goatpr0n' for 'porn'. Things evolve.

Also, I don't think that the h2g2 team are what you could call orthodox or boring - I'm sure Mark et al will do their damnedest to make h2g2 as colourful and as diverse as possible. I imagine that there were quite a few heated arguments between the Towers and BBC middle-management about moderation etc.

Yeah, its not the best solution, but its better than no solution.
Chill out and see how things pan out when the whole site is up and running again.

The multi-cultural nature of h2g2 (yes, even the german parts I couldn't read ) was one of it's charms. To suddenly have an English-only ... uhm.. this isn't the 'Earth' edition, it's the London edition. Bleh.

The fears are not yours exclusively, trust me.

I agree that the language thing is probably a bit iffy, and should be reviewed now to avoid backlash later.

Hang on - yet again, arguments are springing up based on facts which are wrong. It's worrying!

We aren't ditching foreign language forums, we just have to moderate them, and that will take more time than before. It's not that we are UK-based and therefore only English-based; Britain is chocka with loads of different languages, and the BBC produces plenty of non-English programmes. It's *purely* down to (wo)manpower and logistics.

We also haven't stopped being unorthodox. Check out the Edited Guide; this has all been moderated, and the changes made were extremely minimal, and were mostly concerned with weeding out plariagiarised entries from the Guide (not many, but enough to have made it an essential job to do), and demoting ancient ones that were, basically, not that good (quite a few of the launch ones!). I challenge you to find proof that we have softened our unconventional approach to the content of the Guide!

As the good Doctor says, we have had to change because reality has teeth. However, the core values are absolutely still there, the same team is absolutely still running the show, and the same 'flying off the handle at unsubstantiated rumours' tendency of the Community is still there. It's great to be back, eh!

*cranks up the Rumour Machine*

She cannae tak' much more o' this, cap'n.

*goes off to mishear more 'chinese whispers'*

Oh no Nexus, not *chinese* whispers!

Abi! Add 'Need a Mandarin translator' to the staff list...

Sounds like a difficult job, h2g2 having so many threads in Mandarin chinese.

Where do I apply??

We're having Chinese for lunch? Yummy.

Hey, am I right in thinking you've deleted the entry on "ghosts"? That one always made me cringe!

So what's happened to the 'fictional' Researchers/Writing Team and their occassional audio reports?

The more Mark reassures us the more I feel... reassured. Perhaps the future's brighter than some of us were anticipating. I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself for the MASSIVE influx of new Researchers and the inevitable backlash from existing ones. That said, the new "h2g2 moderation" page should act as a nice buffer.