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

Hmm. Looks like nobody's ever going to be hearing from Ed the Bonobo ever again. Not if BBC iD has its way.

Ed can't you email them?

I for one will be l

Seriously, it'll all come out in the wash.

It's less than 24 hours since the change...

It will be sorted. I'll' be bombarded them with emails, if not. Promise.

We're your friends. De na fash yersel.

Just noticed this thread. Neither of his egos has posted anything for the past 4 weeks. Oh dear.

Anyone know where EtB/NtM has gone?

i raised this a week or so back and was told he was on a self imposed hiatus

here http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F1712451?thread=7784605

Yeah I miss him too. I hope he comes back.

Cheers Taff, I hope he comes back as well.

I had a mail on last 22 september. He´s going back to work after some time out because of his health issue. He´s busy.

I don´t know whether he´s going to come back here. Sometimes there has been too much gratuitous rudeness to him in this site, in my opinion.

I´m not much around either, also busy, but I´d really love to see him around when I ocassionally lurk.

>Sometimes there has been too much gratuitous rudeness to him in this site, in my opinion. <

I haven't seen that Ed has been subjected to more of that than anyone else. Yep a bit of rough and tumble teasing, yes a bit of irony, and yes sometimes a bit of rudeness. We all get it.

You make a comment like that without saying what you mean. It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

Cheers, Maria. I was wondering about Ed lately too.

>>Yep a bit of rough and tumble teasing, yes a bit of irony, and yes sometimes a bit of rudeness. We all get it.

Actually it goes well beyond that fairly often. And just because some of you all get it (I don't so much because I won't engage at the level very often) doesn't make it ok.

I'd love to see Ed back here, but I hope more that he takes good care and if that precludes being here that says quite alot about this site.




Thanks for the updates.

> but I hope more that he takes good care and if that precludes being here that says quite alot about this site.<

Okay you are now the second person to intimate indirectly that there is some connection between Ed's absence and the state of this site.

It would be ever so nice if you and Maria could come out with specifics about what you mean, because I'm not so good at reading double talk and hints.

I have no idea Effers, as I haven't talked to Ed.

But in general if someone is having health problems then why would they want to spend time in a place that is stressful? It's not about being rude in a 'you're an ass' kind of way. It's about meanness and debate point scoring at the expense of other people's respect. When that happens on a continuous basis (as opposed to being a one off in occasional posts), then the debate culture here becomes very limited. Five years ago it mattered less because there were enough people here that you could just go somewhere else and find someone to talk to and there were still plenty left to debate. Now we have to few people here that the bordering on nasty stuff sticks out like a sore thumb.


Like I said, I have no idea what's happening for Ed. For me, being busy and overly stressed in my own life, I'm being very selective about what threads I get involved in because I can't be bothered with the 'toughen up' approach that passes for conversation here.

Or to put it another way - we can't afford the 'if you don't like it go away' approach anymore, because we're in danger of losing the whole community. We need to make the place attractive and pleasant enough that people will want to stay. And no I don't mean there is no place for robust debate. It's not what you say it's how you say it (that's the impersonal you, not the Effers you ).

update about ed http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F54936?thread=7770905&post=100994282#p100994282 looks like he's gone

Yeah but people come and go like that all the time. Look at Hoo

I'm really saddened by Ed's departure. I've always liked hearing which books he's been reading, and he's referred me to some really good ones.

Oddly, the idea that the "rough and tumble" here is brutal is odd, to someone from this side of the pond. You have no idea how bad US communities get! H2G2 gets snarky, even snarly, but never rabid! It's why I've come here for almost 11 years, because aside from a couple of noted exceptions, it's been pretty civilized. If someone gets way out of line, they get yikesed here.

I spoke to Ed last week and he said as it currently stands he's unlikely to come back: he just got tired of the place and the internet in general. While he was copping direct abuse from some, most notably Ancient Brit, it was more the general tone of the debates that would get him down.

I think the thread which broke the camels back was the fascism one, with SoRB trolling, AB being a wofftopic, Effers playing her usual games to show how 'outrageous' and 'unconventional' she is and norti playing very rough.

That's not to say Ed was a saint, his dispute with swl for example was a lot more mutual than he ever liked to admit, but by hootoo standards that was an unusually unpleasant thread (it also caused Roymondo to leave).

I've not asked him, so I don't know, but I wonder how much of it was also the feeling of general malaise that descends on those threads: we've all be on here for quite a long time now and have gotten to know each others styles: Ed'll be Marxist, I'll be pompous, SoRB'll be a passive-aggressive thug, Effers'll be 'provocative', warner will be ing insane etc etc ad nauseum. The generally moderate people like Gif, Clive, kea, Taff* (*not an exhaustive list) will hold the ring. That sort of weary predictability has caused me to unsub from all the religion threads and, it seems, Ed from the entire site.

So there you go Effers, you asked for specifics and now you have them.

Also before anyone points it out, I know those kinds of debates are only a very small piece of this site, and that only a small number of people engage with them, but Ed and others (including myself) don't seem to have gotten involved with the wider site.

It's our loss and maybe shows that if you only come here to be a keyboard warrior the site isn't as sticky as we'd like.

I've seen 'Not the monkey - genus Poecile' online, but not posting, many times during the last few weeks. I don't understand why people do that...