A Conversation for Ask h2g2

May I conduct an experiment?

Post 1

benjaminpmoore

I've tried to post a link to the infinite improbability drive here, but I failed. If anyone knows how to do that, it would really be helpful, but it's not essential. You can find it by doing a search and I think it's still on the frontpage somewhere.
Anyway.
Here's the experiment. Use the drive (which will take you to a randomly chosen edited guide entry) five times. How many entries, of the five, did you immediately want to read?
It's that simple.


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 2

U168592

<./>RandomEditedEntry</.>

But this page might help too - A692903 h2g2 Named Entries

smiley - ok


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 3

There is only one thing worse than being Gosho, and that is not being Gosho

<./>RandomEditedEntry</.>

smiley - winkeye


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 4

U168592

oh, and 4 out of 5 ain't bad.


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 5

benjaminpmoore

I knew SOMEONE would do that. I suppose it says a lot that those were the first two responses to this message. smiley - smiley


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 6

Danny B

The link you want is <./>RandomEditedEntry</.>

Of the five Entries, three I read straightaway, one was a long, historical Entry, which isn't my thing (especially when I'm supposed to be working!) and the fourth was a collaborative Entry on 'Spicing up Your Patio', which, as I don't have a patio, didn't appeal, but may come in useful one day!

smiley - ok


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 7

benjaminpmoore

What was the fifth? *Please don't let it be mine*


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 8

Danny B

smiley - doh

If you count them up (as I clearly failed to do...) there are actually five there. It should read "...the FIFTH was a colloaborative Entry..."

smiley - blush


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 9

Icy North

3/5, but on a different day I might have been inclined to read the fourth. The fifth was a recipe for Cuban Pork or something, which didn't really interest me.


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 10

lil ~ Auntie Giggles with added login ~ returned

smiley - roflsmiley - rofl


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 11

Clive the flying ostrich: Amateur Polymath | Chief Heretic.

Pediculosis (Head Lice)
The German Federal States
Logical Consistency
Pharoh Ants
Planograms


I'd say the entry about planograms A603712 was the most intriguing at first sight without further investigation. The idea of an entry about how items in shops is deliberatly placed to affecting marketing and profit of impluse buying.

Also had the most forums of the 5.


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 12

bubba-fretts


3/5 smiley - smiley


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 13

Yelbakk

Three out of 10. Better score on other days, though.

Y.


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 14

Whisky

Five entries I've never seen before...

1) A computer game I've never heard of - skim read it, but might go back and read it properly later

2) A town in Hampshire - fairly well written - but enough to put you off the town for life - would never have read it normally unless I happened to be googling for that particular town and ran across the entry

3) Lapsang Souchong Tea - Excellent entry by DD - surprised I'd not run across it before

4) An entry by Gnomon on Elgar - need I say more! Of course I read it!

5) An entry on Jade Plants - Never heard of them but read it - mainly because the entry was short enough and visually well structured (long rambling entries tend to put me off)


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 15

Whisky

... oops - forgot to give a score...

3 and two halves out of 5 smiley - winkeye


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 16

Magwitch - My name is Mags and I am funky.

five entries all over 3 years old

1) about chocolate easter eggs, which I read, of course smiley - winkeye
2) about the gender pronoun game, was intrigued, so read that one
3) about a town called Whoop-Whoop, very short, so i read it
3) about lost treasures in pensylvania, not my bag, had a skim though.
5) one abour Chinese cinema, didn't read it, as i'm suppposed to be working, but will look for it later.

4.5/5 it is then.


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 17

kelli - ran 2 miles a day for 2012, aiming for the same for 2013

The ones I read because they looked interesting:

Splash the game
Facial Gymnastics
Building a snow lantern

The one I read because it was one paragraph long (in need of a bit of an update methinks):
Kaliedascopes (oh I just know that isn't spelt correctly)

The one I couldn't quite raise the interest for:
Web Design.

So three out of five really.


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 18

Woodpigeon

Interesting ones

Sushi
Alternatives to Ashtrays

So-so..

Middleburg, Florida USA
Drum Corps International
Tortilla Surprise


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 19

TRiG (Ireland) A dog, so bade in office

1. A311491 Rex the Runt

Read introduction (up to first header), and was planning to give up. But saw it was very short, so continued. .3

2. A618923 Infective Endocarditis

Skimmed. Might read another time. Readable, but not a topic I'm particularly interested in at the moment. .5

3. A1119395 Eilmer of Malmesbury - the Flying Monk

"Eilmer of Malmesbury was a man about whom we know virtually nothing." Well, with that title and that opening line, I had to read it. Good stuff! 1


4. A2106 Harpsichords

I'm not particularly interested in it, but it was well written (Gnomon and Recumbentman) and I read it through. .9

5. A695496 The Free Cinema Movement - a History

Something I knew nothing about. I read through it, but I'm afraid I remember very little. (I didn't exactly skim-read, but I read it fast.) Still, it was very well structured, and if I wanted to research the topic it would give a good overview. I'll give it .9.

That makes .3 + .5 + 1 + .9 + .9 = 3.6

3.6/5. Not too bad.

I now have to go back over some of them to do some curating. There's a few BBCi links to be removed.

TRiG.smiley - ok


May I conduct an experiment?

Post 20

Deep Doo Doo

A10422325 The Supermarine Spitfire - Aviation Legend. One of Matts Uni Projects, already read it.

A442720 Banana Toast. Very short, so I read it.

A4187621 The Khe Sanh Approach - A Technique For Landing Aircraft Under Fire. The title intrigues me so I will read it.

A679629 Evariste Galois - Mathematical Genius. It's got equations in it, so it's not for me.

A246845 Artstraws. Very short, so I read it. It's not a patch on recent Entry standards though.

Score 3.5-4/5


Key: Complain about this post