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

At the risk of sticking my nose in where i shouldn't,i post to threads that i agree with,rarely expressing an opinion if it means causing arguements.
I have to say though,i still sometimes feel like a fish out of water,after two years here!
I am always so pleased that i made that first posting,there are some wonderful people on H2,and it's been a pleasure to meet them,and class them as my friends.

>>At the risk of sticking my nose in where i shouldn't<< - I'm sorry if you're feeling this way Smurfles, after all, this is 'Ask h2g2', so everybody is asked to give their experiences/opinions


>>rarely expressing an opinion if it means causing arguements.<<
I do understand this reaction,it's a feeling I've got now and then, too, so I don't say anything

(Haven't read backlog yet)

I've been here for just over two years now and, in answer to the question, I've detected the smart arse contingent has been gradually increasing in numbers over time - particularly in the past few months. H2 isn't the escape-from-the-real-world it once was.

Mina, I'm glad to hear that entries can be submitted to peer review in plain text, I hadn't realised that. I obviously didn't read the advice thoroughly!

Smurfles, B'Elana, I can see that where strong opinions are being voiced, expressing a different view feels like intruding & opening yourself to fire. There are some people who are overly aggressive/derogatory in maintaining their opinion - that's when threads become arguments. Generally, so long as one can give good justification for one's viewpoint, it makes for a good discussion. The threads where everyone agrees on an issue are often the ones that tend to digress or peter out quickly.

>>There are some people who are overly aggressive/derogatory in maintaining their opinion<<
Right, that's when I have second thoughts about posting in the thread at all, otherwise, I love a good discussion and to get to know other people's point of view and reasons for it, I'm always open to being convinced to the opposite of what I thought at first

As some of you know, I am collating some of the comments from the four threads I started into an entry. Hopefully Shazz'll run it in the post.

However, there are a lot of practical suggestions here, both in the form of advice to newbies and in the form of how we can help them and us in the form of general nettiquette, which could be used to strengthen the Help Pages.

It would be a good project for someone who has the time and the inclination to pull them out and put them together. The Italics have a history of being slowly but intelligently responsive to proffered help pages, (both the PR page and the AWW page were re-written to incorporate user-suggestions, so it does happen).

So, if anyone wants to do that, it would be an immensely practical way to make a difference to the well-being of the site.

Ben

OOpps, Ivan, I ignored your question addressed to me about Nettiquette.

I feel very at home here, and so although it can be a rough and tumble, it is a rough and tumble with people I know. I dropped out of an MSN community because I felt personally attacked, and I dropped out of a US writers' community because I didn't 'click' with the folks there and didn't have time to lurk it. Better the wierdos you know.

Dunno about other sites, really, which was one of the reasons I started the thread, because there are people here who do.

Ben

A901838

Thanks for the link Mina
I knew I had seen it somewhere... Perhaps it would be a good idea, if the ACES put that in their welcome message, along with the other useful links they post

Ben there are several good threads asking why did you join h2?
They are very positive ones
Some were on ASK and some on personal spaces.
I will continue to look for them with this iffy computer

If Ben would like them, maybe people who started them will post links here.

**********

Can we have the number of the post included on the page while typing the reply? It does not show with the post at that time(in goo or all?)

Slow computers, fast threads, and interruptions do not always make it easy. Replying to a name ( especially for newbies) can be confusing when people sign a different one than their nickname or change their nicknames.

The number seems easiest for other readers to follow.

**********

Good doing entry writing without GmL was helpful to bring up again
I did not know that after years of being here.

We asked the ACEs at the time to put it in their greetings, along with the glossary we wrote as well. Whether they did, or the news ACEs saw it I don't know.

I'm not even sure this is linked to from anywhere, although I would have thought we'd have added some links somewhere...

Maybe the ACES do it nowadays, but didn't back when I was new. It doesn't matter much, I'm not the rude type anyway

>>>
I like to read good debates.

I joined h2 because it was more civil.

A site self moderated I thought surely said a lot good about the people involved.

I have skipped many threads once they headed towards the Della war. Whatever it is and however it got started it is a stale and mean waste of time.

What more can come of it?

More harm?

Losing posters and newbies.

Losing friends and chances to make them.

Losing growth, creativity and new solutions.

Losing the point to conversations.

I loose hopes when this small, fairly well educated mini-world cannot get out of its own way at times. It can move towards its purpose or its downfall. If it takes a a village to raise a child may well take a village to raise a killer, an idiot or a gravely depressed person.

We are the village.
<<<

Well said Abbi. I think it bears repeating.


It's hard to know what to do, because unlike other controversies on h2 this one has no course to run. It is simply permanent and ongoing.

One of the italics suggested the possibility of putting all participants in the D wars on premod. I would hope the community could come up with a more creative solution than that, but I'm not holding my breath because all involved seem content to carry on the war.

Rather than getting into this more here, I was considering starting a separate thread (asking the community if (a) the D wars was a problem that needed to be discussed by the community and (b) if so, did the community need to do anything about them). Do people feel this would be a useful thing?


kea.

If you think it's worth a discussion, you'd better start an own thread I think.

Being a participant (ish) in said wars I think that perhaps it is something deserving of its own topic, rather than here.



I would also say that people previously involved in the D-Wars disagreeing with Della in an "on-topic" matter does *not* constitute a continuation.

That is a distinction that must be made I feel.

I think that would be a really constructive idea Kea, and yes it does deserve it's own thread.

Aren't you afraid that it would flame up again, with more people involved than ever before ?

Humm yes, maybe.. I'm not sure?

The Della wars seem to be going strong in The Forum, but they don't affect anyone other than the particpants, who all seem to be rather enjoying it. You can easily avoid them..

Not so easily, I've encountered them on two very different threads only recently, and I'm really not keen on reading them. Fortunately, they left the trhreads - that is, hoo left after having been asked to stop it and go on elsewhere.

Like I said though it is worth noting that just because people disagree with Della on a thread it does not mean they are engagin in Della wars.

I tend to disgree with her on just about anything talked about because I have ideological differences. I admit that in the past when I have argued with her it has been partially (or completely sometimes) to do with the Della wars.

Othertimes it is due to me just disagrreing with her. I disagree with lots of people on hootoo. Hoo, Zagreb, Blathskite, McKay, Blues Shark ect... (in fact lets face it that is what the forum is about) but I dont have any particular problem with them. When Della wars people are arguing it might be an on topic disagreement even now see?