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

One comment - the concepts are not fictional, they are concepts. Concepts can no more be fictional than something can be extremely unique.

They are concepts first named in works of fiction, and the last of the many working titles was "Peter Pan and Cyberspace: concepts created by writers of fiction"

Also - "From Peter Pan to Cyberspace" implies some sort of chronology, whereas Peter Pan was actually written about half way through the period covered.

If you want a snappier title how about "Concepts created in fiction - Peter Pan, Cyberspace and Catch 22" or something similar.

Please be accurate in your use of adjectives. (It is a hobby horse of mine. Ian Haig is the ex leader of the Tories, not the ex Tory leader. Jeffrey Archer on the other hand is an ex-Tory Chairman, as well as being an ex-chairman of the Tory Party.)

a defender of adjectival rights called Ben

While we are at it - could my name go in the Edited by section with Loonytoons?

The whole thing came out of a thread which I started; then I got curious about it, and put the thing together; and I was the one who observed that there was actually a thesis to the whole thing - namely the sudden need for new metaphors in the 19th and 20th centuries, and how dystopian those metaphors are. So I do feel that I deserve a leetle more glory than to be just one of the researchers who contributed to the thread.

*bidding for 7.5 minutes of fame*

a writer called Ben

Yeah, considering the limited amount I put in to this, and the veritable Atlantic of effort put in by agcBen here, is it possible to change the order of the researchers. It reminds me a lot of when I used to be an academic

Munchkin, I only mumbled about the TARDIS

Hi folks,

I agree with that linguistic discrepancy, and I've made the necessary edit, both in the Entry and on the front page.

Unfortunately, an Entry can only have one editor at the moment, and all contributing Researchers get equal billing (in U-number order). We are, however, working on changing this in an upcoming release to allow a more flexible listing format.

It would be even more accurate to say William Haig is the ex leader of the Tories.

I wonder who the hell I know whose name is Ian Haig...
*wanders off in search of stray scotsmen....*

agcB

And it would be even more accurate to talk about William Hague, not Haig...

Great entry though.

"Don't be vague - vote for Hague" !

*in a world of her own, just now, with Sherlock Holmes and Yossarian*

agcB

Is Ian Hague a cross between William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith? Would that be "ex-Tory-dinary"?

I guess the above proves the accuracy of this:-

"You are discovering," a friend said to me, "that the only real pleasure in a book is the editing."

Woohoo, I've had my first guide entry! Okay so I only contributed a bit, but still quite cool. Guess it's about time after having been here a year.

I've just been reading some of the conversations around the editorial process for edited guide entries.

I'm happy to enter into a cooperative process, but if one researcher has done most of the work in a particular area they should be recognised as "prime mover".

The editor has to look over the history of the conversations which led up to the final article and represent it as a cooperative effort or a single person's effort with comments from others. And if people feel they have not been credited fairly for their work, it should be possible to appeal and get the "ranking" amended.

I'm on the list for this entry, but all I did was throw in a couple of ideas and do some proof-reading. La Ben was prime mover.

Mund, quite a few months ago I suggested the following as a way to more accurately credit people for their work.

Researched by: Ben

Additional material contributed by: Mund

Edited by: Loonytunes.

I'm led to believe something similar to what I suggested will be included in a forthcoming h2g2 upgrade.

Loon...

Excellent. I will shut up and hope that your suggestion is adopted.

If not, I may start to wave my arms a bit.

Could add JRR Tolkein, who created a few new proverbs and aphorisms: "Never meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger" - parodied by Robert Anton Wilson and Terry Pratchett in their respective works...