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

Hi there mellowmick, thank goodness you got here safely, we’ve all been wanting to meet you for ages.

Don’t be afraid, at least not yet.

My name is Fizzymouse, and I’m a researcher just like you, but I’ve been hanging around here for quite a while and sort of know the form. I joined a group called the <./>ACE</.>s who do the BBC a favour by welcoming all newcomers. My friends around here call me Fizzy – so why don’t you.

Now that you know who I am I’ll tell you why I’m *really* here.

Hootoo, as we affectionately call h2g2, is a really big place - but at the same time it’s quite an enclosed community, so it pays to take your time and get a feel for the place. For a while you will be referred to by some people as a newbie, that’s a term of endearment for newcomers – not an insult! Hootoo isn’t a chat room, but there are places where chat happens at <./>MiscChat</.>, or <./>Askh2g2</.>. You may want to lurk around for a while without posting, that’s okay, and how most of us start out.

You may be here because you love the works of Douglas Adams, or you may have stumbled upon us through an internet search, but why ever you are here – welcome, and if you’re interested in adding to our living, growing guide please read the <./>Writing-guidelines </.> and we’ll see you in PeerReview.

As well as the Edited Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything, we have our own newspaper <./>ThePost</.>, and an <./>underguide</.>, so I’m sure you’ll find something you like somewhere around the place.

Oh, before I forget, there are some really important <./>HouseRules</.>, which you should take a read through, as well as some netiquette A3766070, just to keep you right.

Before I go you might want to find out how to make the smileys - they’re all here A155909, and if you want to dress up your Personal Space you’ll find some help with guideml here A187229.

If you want to reply to me all you have to do is click the reply button which will be somewhere around the bottom left of this message. Before you know it you’ll have made your first post. Oh, one last thing I should share with you - once you post something you can’t edit or change it, so do use the preview button – just to save any .