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

So, it seems that once again there is a dearth of new material for the Edited Guide.

I wish I could help, I really could. But you know, like many people, I work full time and have other responsibilities, and it's hard to motivate myself to spend the time working on something that won't be taken seriously.

And I know it won't be taken seriously. For three years I have been trying to get *someone*, *anyone* with editorial status to correct the THIRTY errors the sub-editor introduced to my last edited entry- errors that were *not there* when the article was submitted.

I spent hours working on that entry, writing about a part of my hometown I thought others might find interesting. I enjoyed writing it! And now I'm embarrassed to have my name associated with it because of all the ridiculous errors.

I'm a bit loath to risk further embarrassment.

Apparently, some sub-eds spend *days* trawling through poorly written entries (I've peeked into PR and seen some of these contributions- I don't know they decipher some of them!), correcting nearly every other word, not to mention having to do all the markup as well. Surely it can't be too much trouble, then, not to go through a reasonably well-written entry (marked up with GuideML and both internal and external links by the author prior to submission, even) adding errors that didn't exist to begin with? And surely with all of these people volunteering to help out with PR, it's possible to find sub-eds with at least a passing acquaintance with grammar, punctuation and syntax? I'd be more than willing to chip in an entry every few months, if I thought that might happen. How about a system where you can pick your own sub-ed, so you know you're getting someone who won't your hard work up?

Update forum?

Sorry to hear you had such a bum ride PC, but did you post your corrections to EF, and if so .... stay on them to fix it up.

It seems the guide really is in distress this time so if you could just see your way clear to pen another entry I'd certainly review it - as best I can - it'd be really appreciated.

In order to pass it through Update Forum, I'd basically have to copy & paste, correct the bad bits, and re-submit it, no? With so many errors, if I were to simply post a list of them, it would be unmanageable. The same proper name was changed to lower-case letters several times, and the word "feet" substituted for "foot" (along with insertion of a ton of unnecessary hyphens) a dozen times. I'd pity the poor person who had to go in and change all that. Honestly, I think it's a total wash- might as well let it be. At least I saved a copy for myself for future use.

Thanks for your offer, Fizzy! I'll try to find some free time soon (which can be tricky when you work a 50 hour week- it's why I gave up ACEing a few years ago), and if I manage something I'll let you have a go at it. Knowing it was in good hands would make a huge difference.

I wish I could commit to doing something regularly, but I pretty much dislike writing to begin with, and I'd hate it to become a chore... I have a topic in mind but I'm afraid it might not be a long entry. And what I have in mind is all factual, not at all "witty" or "dry". If I could manage comic writing, I'd be on strike right now.

Make a list of what's wrong, and in what paragraph, and submit it to Editorial Feedback. If that doesn't work, send a list of corrections to me and I'll do it for you.

Hey PC, don't get carried away ..... I'm not that good a pair of hands when it comes to punctuation, grammar and stuff ..... I could tell you if it's good or needs more - that's about it really, but I would watch over it.

Entires nowadays don't need to be long - I find if I have a reaaaaalllly long topic it's best to keep it in bite-sized chunks - I don't think people have the attention span for more than that.

I've found in the past when I've 'dried up' - just the act of typing something and putting it into PR is enough to get me going again ... PR sort of begs you to come back and add, primp and tweak.

Wow, all that trying with EF in the past and all it took was one posting read by the Right People.

I should be able to make time to prepare a list later this afternoon or tomorrow morning, if I'm not interrupted with much actual work.

Might even be able to begin on another entry, if things are quiet enough. I'll see what my workload looks like- we've been a bit short staffed at the office and the next couple of weeks are still a bit sketchy.

Thanks, both of you.

It's my pleasure! Repay the favour and look at my latest entry in PR

!

zdt

Is it A2334133 that vexes you? I'm a Curator, so I can do most things without recourse to the Eds - I'll go through your Entry tomorrow and correct all the errors I can find. If you see anything else that needs correcting, I'll tell you exactly where to let me know, so we can get the whole thing straightened.

Then, after two and a half years, might we see you in PR again?

Thanks to you, too Rich. I can point out one right now- change all of the measurements that read "feet" to "foot". (Did you want me to give you a measurement in meters for each which can be inserted parenthetically? I'll do so). Don't know why that was changed- I've never heard anyone from the UK refer to a "300-meters" something-or-other. Incidentally, this editor seemed to like hyphenating- as far as I can tell at least 12 hyphens can be removed as well. Bet you can figure out which?

When I get to work (about an hour and a half from now) I'll post my list.

It has occurred to me that you may not need a list.

There is a typographical error in the second of the first paragraph. Please insert a space between the word "feet" (which should read "foot") and the open-parenthesis.

Also, in the "History" section, proper names need capitalization. In each instance of "the navy", it should read "Navy". And "airman" is a title, so it should read "Airman".

I'll peek at my list and see if there's anything else. The "foot/feet" changes really irk me. While a person might say "I walked 150 feet" or "I walked 100 meters", one would still refer to a "150 foot incline" (perhaps with hyphen) or a "50 meter dash". See what I mean? I don't know why the sub-ed was so confused there.

To be fair, I had a similar problem with B'el when she was subbing a football entry of mine. It's because English is the world's most non-sensical language.

So you do remember that then?
Nearly made me stop subbing there and then. Although it was slightly different, because it was about pseudo- collective nouns.

Is it my fault you don't listen to a word I say?

I know my pseudo-collective nouns B'el...

Oh, I listened, but I didn't believe you were right.

See, there's your problem! Not recognising my genius!

Let's face it: it was your problem, not mine.

Yeah, but you caused it!

Oh yes, Bel is a real troublemaker.

I wish I'd known Fizzy and Bel and Skanky and Psycorp back in the day. Better later than never, though!



I'm not sure if this is a UKnian thing, but do you always hyphenate between the measurement and the unit of measurement? As in "440 seat" or "150 foot"? We don't do that here, but I didn't assume. What about "sixth largest"? I've never seen that sort of hyphenation (is that a real word?) before. Same with "deep draught" and other phrases. Particularly when inserted between words in an already hyphenated phrase, it looks really sloppy.

Other than that:

Would proper names still be Anglicized? I hadn't considered it an error, just something I wonder about. For instance, the sub-ed refers to "Calumet Harbor" as such, but not "IMAX Theater" or "Home Defense". I was curious as to the inconsistency.

Paragraph three of the history section, at the end of the very last sentence: "West Side" should be capitalized. It's the proper name of the neighborhood. Same goes for "Southeast Side" at the end of paragraph five in the same section. Two words, capital letters, proper name.

That's everything.

Thanks again- you guys (and gals) are the best!