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

Sorry for the abruptness of the question, but I am curious about who is using the site, and what they get out of it.

Me - I am 40, single, too independent, female, British, and travel too much for my work.

I use the site because it entertains me, I have come to know a lot of the people here and count some of them as my friends, I enjoy the dynamic of conversing with people of very different cultures and opinions, and I really enjoy talking to people of different ages.

I used to find it fun. Now I find it interesting.

Also, I like to publish thoughts and opinions, and test them out in public to see if they work, or if they dont.

So - tell me - I am curious -

Who are you? What are you? What do you get out of h2g2?

a mature and sophisticated woman called Ben

I'm not sure what or who I am and i'm just hoping H2G2 and some of the people on here that I certainly do call friends are helping me try to find out and its fun, and I'm male now 26, still studying and still not knowing what I want to do, here is fun and intersting as a concept and a good way to keep up (when I've time) with those that on here I call friends (many I've met in RL), and its also a very good place to spend some time when doing things on my computer or when I've a free few minutes to spend fruitlessly on not working Oh, and without H2G2 I'd have found the bit of HTML I had to do a lot more difficult

a bipedal lifeform called 2legs

I have been watching the activities of h2g2 for a year now, and registered only last week. I discovered it through my appreciation of Douglas Adams. I like to dip in to see what people are listening to, what they're laughing at and what makes them happy/cheesed off. I like to think that the majority of people logging in are like minded, friendly folk, and its good to see what makes people tick, whether its about the war with Iraq, music, or my personal favorite, food related film titles.
From a foolish 30 Year old.

Well, since some of my favourite contributors have already contributed here I feel obligated to respond.

I am a 50 year old Canadian with English parents and syblings so the Anglo-centric nature of H2G2 is very comfortable for me. I work in the Television business and was first introduced to the BBC Hitchhiker radio series shortly after it aired in Britain. An Audio tech had a disk and I copied it (I bought it as soon as I could so don't ask for copyright money!). That and DAs death (he was born within two months of me) brought me here.

Why did I stay? Because no matter how many times I make a mistake within the framework of H2G2 someone gently corrects my error. And the fact that it is truly unique in my experience as a site. It's the biggest adult playground and building block set in world! Presently I am being ignored (at my own request), building the ultimate pluralistic utopian structure, learning about myself and others, and trying to share a little of my meagre knowledge. All at the same time.

Hi Ben

I find the usual information people give - age, sex, marital status, place of abode, occupation, number of grandmothers etc - massively irrelevant in real terms. Maybe I just don't like being labelled or pigeonholed or something. Anyway I don't identify myself with any of these pieces of information - I don't think they say anything at all about me, the real me (whatever that's supposed to mean). I like to think that in an online community you can dispense with all that and start to see people in a different light: in terms of their thoughts and ideas rather than what they do for a living or where they do it.

In fact I find the whole subject of identity fascinating. Who or what people identify with, why they feel they have to belong, what they belong to. How they build ramparts to defend what they think they belong to against perceived enemies. This is the main thing that causes wars, but on the other hand it seems to be an essential part of the human condition, not just to want to belong, but to identify themselves in some important way with what they have chosen to belong to.

I try not to do that.

What do I get out of h2g2? I get out what I put in. But I am not to be identified in terms of number of guide entries written or volunteer badges or any of that stuff. If people wish to make assumptions about me based on that sort of thing, they'll likely be wrong, but that's not my problem. I do what I can, and leave the rest.



Bels

Hi. I was reading who knows what one day, there was a "link" here. I read a lot of news and social items, did + more before coming here! I am home, mostly with my + I am differently-abled. I hate being Dis-ed. On "labels" of which I believe no person should have less than ten! (It's when only 1-2 labels apply , that you're in trouble, bored or alone!) *also labeled as: Female,50,married,spiritual not religious,root for the underdogs,Not Republican!>would if they were REALLY for less government & NOT making personal choices for people.I wish our justice/court system was about truth/fairness, not $/the "game" a sporting attitude. I love the U.S. would not want to leave for good, but am often embarrassed by its world politics. I needed another inlet/outlet in daily life. I get so full of news, feelings, opinions and curiosity that I need another place to put it/get it! I can come here any day and find from the very serious to the very silly & those two ARE my favorites!

OK, male, 21, university student, at uni in sunderland/call warrington home, use h2g2 because I find it at times both fun and interesting, and occasionally neither.

"Who are you"

That's "Hoo are you?" to you, to which the answer is, "yes, I am."

"what are you?"

Perfect, apparently... F35246?thread=222769

"and what do you get out of h2g2?"

Entertainment, alcohol in exchange for juggling, the chance to bait bigots for amusement, somewhere *else* to show off and have people tell me how wonderful I am, and somewhere else to show off and have people tell me to stop showing off and that I'm not as wonderful as all that.

And knob gags.

H.

Okey-dokey, I'll play it straight. To those to whom it matters, I'm male, 45 and British, I'm married with no kids and I work in public transport. If you want to know more, visit my space or read my postings.

I found hootoo looking for stuff on the Hitchikers Guide and DNA, and thought, wow - they've actually tried to make a Hitchikers' Guide! I also found it just before Rupert, and thought I had lost it!

I joined with high hopes of making loads of worthy contributions, which resulted in only a couple of edited entries and a few contributions to collective entries (I never did do one om my local town which was my original intention), but I found a load of interesting people to talk to, some of whom I've been lucky enough to meet IRL.

There's loads of interesting stuff to read here, but that's not why I stick around.

I stick around because here there are people of wit and intelligence to debate with, here there are people with diverse interests and backgrounds to learn from, here there are people with a similar warped sense of humour to be silly with. I have 'met' people here that I may never meet in the flesh, or even speak to. I may not know their age, gender or nationality and it doesn't matter, I count them friends. And I find all this impossible to explain to anybody who hasn't experienced it for themselves. I like it here.

Who? Just another mostly harmless deity creeping about on the skin of the Earth.

What? A function of my imagination.

Why am I here? I can talk to myself and sometimes people answer.

I'm 22, male, doing a PhD in maths and I got stuck here. I think originally I had a little poke around because I loved the books, but somehow I just couldn't quite bring myself to leave and here I still am.

As to what I get out of it, I get to discuss and argue in a civil way with people who not only don't agree with me but have a completely different perspective on life (this combination of civility and diversity is fairly unique on the internet I'd say). For example, as an English, middle class, left wing mathematics student I can't imagine I'd ever have had thoughtful, in depth political conversations with a libertarian American cop (hi Two Bit if you're reading this) if I hadn't been on h2g2.

I read peer review fairly regularly, although I think I enjoy writing entries and reading, commenting and discussing what other people have written much more than reading the finished edited entries. I can't remember the last time I looked at the front page for example.

Also, lurking in other people's personal conversations is quite fun too. Sorry, but you're asking for it if you have one on a public forum!

I'm 23, female and stuck in a job which I love, unfortunately I'm working with people I just can't seem toget on with...I don't think I've ever heard my office-mates laugh I love arguing around subjects to try to get my own views in proportion and to try to see things from the other side, I love gossiping about the world and society and how to put things right, I lvoe joking around and taking the mick out of myself and other people...

I've been unable to do these things for 7-9 hrs a day so I started looking around news sites and arguing in my head to try to keep myself sane...the humour wasnt there though, then I found hootoo...and then a few days later I found the forums .

I just feel like I've got the human contact back into my working life...even if it is just in text format, it's helped me stick at a job where I was truely unhappy due to the lack of human contact (although restructuring and new office-mates are on the distant horizon so I might just disappear one day)...plus it's helped keep me sane...well saner.

Who? 35yo ex-pat Brit in Frogland
What? I translate boring technical documents for a living
Why H2G2? It keeps me sane(ish) whilst translating boring technical documents for a living, whilst making me laugh (often), think (sometimes) and extremely angry (not often).

57, Male, Civil Servant - a lot more interesting than it sounds - into cycling, hill walking, amateyr dramatics and eating and drinking too much while trying not to get fat.

I come here to discuss, swap ideas, laugh, find out what other people think.

Find it fun, interesting, dull, frustrating by turns.

The great thing is it gives me a wider range views and a wider audience for mine than I could get elsewhere.

Liam, 22, cohabitating, work in London - and sometimes overseas, live in Essex - don't have an estuary accent, father.

H2G2 filled the gap created when I moved jobs, we had internal newsgroups which are almost exactly the same as AskH2G2, which is why I spend so much time here. Hootoo has more than filled the gap. It's a great place and I'm having to seek counselling as my home puter isn't working.

Liam.

Whoa, cool thread.

Anyone who looks at my U-space probably knows most of what there is to know about me. Im 19, male, single(as quite a few of you who helped me out in the 'Did I Do The Right Thing?' know). I work in a lab, study at Uni part time, try to live Heavy Metal lifestyle , and have a hobby in producing high grade greenery for personal use.

Why do I come to H2G2? Well, I started this job in October last year. Lab analysis involves a hell of a lot of sitting around waiting for machines. There is no internet access on our computers, however, you can sneak into BBC through a dodgy link. I soon found H2G2 and spent a long time just reading guide entries. Then I found Ask H2G2, met some of the wonderful people here and that was the start of the addiction.

No other place(that I know of) where a huge range of people can come together on an equal plane. I've recieved advice which helped me greatly and given advice which I hope helped greatly.

Oh yeah, and knob jokes!!!

I forgot to mention - knob jokes. Fnarr fnarr!

Liam.

Male, 34, Irish, married with 2 kids, INTP, possibly-soon-2-b-redundant project manager

I have been on HooToo for a long time, and I check into the site on a regular basis. I have got different things from the site at different times, sometimes I just like considering the varied topics in AskH2G2, sometimes I get into a fit and I write some Edited Guide entries, and sometimes I just like lurking around. Nowadays I spend some time around the H2G2 page I created (Living Earth), looking for interesting news stories around the web to link to.

For some reason I find H2G2 really really addictive; thats probably due to the up-and-down nature of my work (at the moment it is really down), and also because it appeals to my type of personality. It is like an open diary in some ways, and I am comfortable enough with that. I am interested in many odd things and I find that many people here have similar interests. Although I have never met another researcher in RL, there are many here that I would like to meet sometime.

Woodpigeon

MM. Goes against my better nature, and some of it is on my u-space, but

37, attached, English/European, Civil Servant (with the Crown Prosecution Service).

I get the chance to argue the toss with people that aren't in the same room as me.

Blues
>I get the chance to argue the toss with people that aren't in the same room as me.<

I was going to request a entry in the H2G2 code along the lines of

BS+++ I have argued and won against Blues Shark
BS++ I have argued with Blues Shark, he agreed with more than 50% of my points
BS+ I have argued with Blues Shark, he agreed with >0% of my points
BS Bluse Shark beat me
BS- I have unsubscribed from a thread after Blues Shark beat me
BS-- This is my last posting, Blues Shark ran me into the ground. I will forever be a lurker
BS--- I would never argue with Blues Shark, whatever he says it right.

and a footnote for BS+++ "All uses of this category will be considered fraudulent "

I now I find that he works for the CPS... figures.



Liam.