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

I've been worrying about the Guide recently. Not enough to make me stay away, but enough to think about it while I'm here.

Having gone down to 3 entries on the front page a day, it's bothering me a little that I'm not finding much on there, in a week, to make me want to read them. That's more my problem than h2g2's but I do wonder how many people feel the same.

So, not having any ideas for entries myself, I decided to hang around PR a little more, and give encouragement (and possibly help) to those brave souls who have been writing entries.

Saturday night, Superbowl day, is a very slow day in internetland. I know this. But even so, I was quite miffed to go to PR last evening and find what I did. At first I thought "yippeee, look at those fairly old entries coming up to the top, people really are reading"

Only to find that it was because the writers appeared to have abandoned the entries, and a scout (or possibly more) was tidying the shop for the weekend.

What is putting people off? At first I thought it must be that PR can get a little... ah... robust at times, and maybe this had happened and the writers thought "stuff you, I'm outta here"

But having looked at a random sample of threads, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Anyone got any ideas as to how we can get some of these entries done and dusted? It really is a shame because the content of a lot of them is exactly what I think the guide should be about (places, restaurants, cafés and things to do in those places).

The reason I've put this here, and not on my PS where it probably belongs is that I'm interested to hear what people "out there" think.

I wonder how many people are aware of the Writing-FleaMarket ?

I've pointed a few newbies in that direction when they are looking for "something to write about"

Well, that's what the Flea Market is for To get all those old entries 'done and dusted' Researchers can claim the lost souls from limbo and get them into the EG.

But perhaps there needs to be more Scouts? or more picks for Scouts? What with the new Curators there are more Researchers able to get Entries through the Editing process (perhaps). But anyway. My stance on this is - Use the Flea Market, I do. It won't bite!

MJ

OK, the flea market is a good idea, I'm aware of it, but I wonder how many other people are?

(I've had this beef recently with the Month thing, it's not that well advertised, IMO)

But the problem is, why are so many abandoned entries in PR? How can we avoid them being abandoned?

Sho, for what it's worth (which isn't much) I intend to trawl the Flea Market just as soon as RL settles down a bit and allows me time to play in PR beyond making encouraging noises from the sidelines. I assume there are others like me - willing would-be writers who are trapped by RL circumstances for the time being.

Some of the Elvised writers have all the hallmarks of one-stop posters, others will have been discouraged by having no responses within the first hour, still others will have resented criticism. (That's a standby of report-writing teachers, isn't it - 'resenting criticism' as a euphemism for 'sulks a lot'.)

I suspect the best we can do is remind PR authors that getting through PR is not necessarily an easy process, but the ego-boost at the end is, I assume, worth it. Beyond that, the Flea Market needs a regular turning-over.

I've been hanging around for a while now, and I still haven't submitted anything to PR. One of these days...

and if I'd paid more attention back then I could have done this

Month

PR is full of Elvis impersonators?

U-huh.

B

wondered when you'd happen along...

Thang you verr' much.

B

*pulls up B's trouserleg*

OMG, it's... Elvis!
*faints*

"But the problem is, why are so many abandoned entries in PR?"
Well, I'd hazard a guess at numbers - the increasing number of new Researchers joining the site. There will always be a proportion of new Researchers who submit unsuitable entries to PR. The more people signing up for h2g2, the more unsuitable entries there will be in PR. I reckon someone like GreyDesk is yer man for explaining how many new Researchers are joining and where they're coming from (if they're coming from other DNA sites).

Of course, increasing numbers also means that there will be more new people writing good entries for PR, but since it's so much easier to write 'Mostly harmless' than it is to write something good enough for the EG, the former will always outweigh the latter.

As the site becomes more well known it'll also draw more single-issue people, and we've had several instances over the past few years of someone joining up and submitting an entry to PR espousing their cause as their very first h2g2 posting, then disappearing either immediately, or after a very short while and a message or two telling them that PR isn't the place for it. Then the Scouts have go through the process of cleaning it out.

PR is currently no more or less healthy than it's been at any particular time. Taking a snapshot of it and and extrapolating an opinion from that very small amount of information is not good statistical analysis. The Edited Guide could always use more good writers, and Scouts could pick ten entries a month instead of two or three if there were enough of them to pick (and enough Sub-eds to deal with them - I think that would be a real bottleneck), but I don't think that's going to happen. The more people come here from the messageboards (whose sole purpose is for chat and discussion), the more this is going to become a talk site and the higher will be the percentage of Researchers who have no intention of writing for the EG or who even know of its existence, and of Researchers who don't really know what it's for but submit something anyway.

that's a fair comment.

Would you recommend, then, for someone like me who wants to help the PR process along, to subscribe to PR and then just unsub from the Elvis entries?

I always recommend a nice bottle of and some decent at the end of a long hard week. Perhaps that's the best idea

Or just keep on keeping on

MJ

You mean unsub from them as it becomes they're an Elvised entry? Sure.The only people who really need to stay subbed to everything in PR are the Scouts.

I'd suggest though that it would be more productive from that point of view to unsub from obviously unsuitable entries, because it's often the case that a good entry will be submitted to PR and then the author will lose interest either in the entry or in h2g2 itself and Elvis, leaving a good entry which eventually gets moved to the Flea Market. If you're still subscribed to that thread (and/or to the FM) you'll know about and be aware that it's up for grabs.

Speaking of which - didn't you comment on the low profile that the FM seems to get? There is a link to it on the Front Page.

I've recently sunmitted 5 Entries to PR - all geographical, but all Flea Market Rescues. Take a look in the bargain bin, there's some good stuff in there!

Let me rewrite that first paragraph seeing as how I seem to have missed out a word *and* not expressed myself well

You mean unsub from them when it becomes clear that it's an Elvised entry? Sure. The only people who really need to stay subbed to everything in PR are the Scouts. Problem is, how do you know for sure when an author has Elvised for good? Some come back.

Right, I'll do that - I really would like to do my bit for h2g2, but I don't particularly have any entries in me.

As for FM - Jimster saw my plea, and thought it a good idea.

not seeing the FM thing... care to draw me a map? (I'm in goo)

Under the Get Writing heading on the right of the page...

oh that's great
I shall mosey on over there once the Gruesomes have gone to bed