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

I am completely new to h2g2 and I am confused !! I have submitted a poem - if anyone out there would like to comment I would appreciate it. Is there a spell checker in h2g2 ? and how do I allocate the A number in the Subject box ? I used my researcher number.

Hello Deeroop, welcome to h2g2
Firstly, if you go to your personal space and check the bottom of the page, you will see a link that will show you what the Editors are looking for.
Secondly, since you're new you should read the FAQs that can be accessed through the HELP button and maybe find an ACE (Assisstant Community Editor) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/aces
These guys are here to help you out!

Admins - could you please leave this thread where it is for a while to give Deeroop a chance to check my message and get some help?

Thanks

Hello,

Welcome to the Guide. It's okay to be confused at first, since honestly it's all a bit confusing, but you'll get to used to it.

Basically, there are several different ways in which you can contribute content to the Guide. Each researcher (that's you) can write journal entries, guide entries, and contribute to conversations like this one. Conceptually, a Journal Entry is a lot like a diary or journal where you can log public notes that aren't quite suitable for guide entries. Guide Entries are documents that you've written that are shared publicly. Of these, the most informative and factual are selected for inclusion in the Edited Guide, but the majority of the entries in the guide can be anything. You can basically think of the Guide itself as a library: it can contain poems, fiction, essays, etc. The Edited Guide is the Encyclopedia in this library.

I mention all this, because your poem was written as a Journal Entry in your user space. You can make it a separate Guide Entry by using the "Add Entry" button on the left side of your user page. In addition, this Conversation Forum is for Peer Review, where Guide Entries are evaluated for inclusion in the Edited Guide. We're often looking for factual errors, and are thus not too good at literary criticism. Unfortunately, poetry is not usually allowed into the Edited Guide (it's not really appropriate for an encyclopedia), but it still can exist in the Unedited Guide which is searchable by anyone on this site. In addition, there are literary groups on the site that will probably be happy to link to your poem and provide comments.

I hope this helps in some way. If you have further questions, I suggest you contact one of the Gurus at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A395688 They're volunteers who are more than happy to help out new users to the system. You can drop them a line, and I'll see if I can find one to post here and help out.

Yours,
Jake

[Huw, don't worry. we'll leave this one here for a little while.]

Hello,

I also think I've demonstrated suitably that there is no spell checker built into the site.

Yours,
Jake

Cheers Jake

Hello,

Huw raises a very good point. You can also get help from an ACE (short for Associate Community Editor). These are the people who left messages welcoming you to the Guide on your front page, and they're more than happy to respond to any questions. You can just read one of their messages in your personal space and hit the reply button for any questions.

While I'm at it, I should also explain what Scouts do. We review entries for inclusion into the Edited Guide and Peer Review (this forum) is where people suggest entries to be included. So if you ever have entries you feel are suitable for an Encyclopedia (admittedly, a very unusual one), you'd post it here for constructive criticism and official approval. Of course, just because an entry is in the Edited Guide does not mean it's better than unedited entries. There are a lot of great things you'd never find in encyclopedias (like your poem). And there are even a lot of informative and factual entries that aren't in the edited guide yet, mostly because people keep writing great stuff faster than we can read it. Keep writing though. We'll catch you up.

Yours,
Jake

Well said!

To get an A style entry you need to click on the "Add Guide Entry" button that you'll find on your "My Space". The button links to http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/UserEdit which will create an entry for you.

hope it helps
;^)#

First, some practical advice. You should definitely create a new Guide Entry with your poem in it. (The instructions are in the post above this one.) After that, there are a couple of places that you could show your poem to.

You might try Lil's Atelier. It's at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A304354 . This is an informal place for creative writers to talk and share their stuff. The other folks there might well want to comment on your poem!

You could also try a formal publishing in the h2g2 Post. The Post is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/ThePost . It is published weekly and has included poetry in the past, and so might want to publish your poem for everyone to see. Just go there and click on Shazz' email address, and tell her where she can find your poem.

Second, I do want to comment a little on your poetry. I thought it was very good, and quite heartwarming. My only suggestion would be to add in punctuation where it would make sense, to make the poem a little easier to read.

I especially like the last line: 'I'll still be here, I'll always be here, and you will always have bunches in your hair.' It reminds me a great deal of 'I grow old, I grow old. I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled.' This quote is from T.S. Eliot's poem, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.' And like that quote, your last line expresses a sense of passing time very eloquently. Well done.

Also there is a Lost Poetry Office, operated by Kes at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A433793

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review Sin Bin' to 'Hello'.

Back to User - this is about a Journal on their user page.