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

just found this thread and read through everything

I agree with RF on the matter of moderation by the one who started the thread. *I* certainly wouldn't start a thread anymore.

On the age limit: I knew a 13 year old here and also a few others. My experience is that if they are too young (maybe not by age but by mind) they get bored or confused quite fast and leave.

Stockholm Syndrome.

(Superb metaphor Mrs Zen).

And I shall contribute more in time that is positive...I like to think so at least, but I wanted to just stick that post in there.

A few thoughts.
Moderation - I dont believe there is need for as much moderation as there is now. However I believe that a parent should be able to leave a child to browse H2G2 without having to look over their shoulder.
Look - It should be easy to navigate and use on mobile devices, we need to look to the future.
The guide - We cant compete with wikipedia so it would be daft to try. But the guide is a wonderfull thing, querky, funny and entertaining, as well as being informative. We should celebrate this.

I've only just discovered this thread. Some great ideas! I've written a lot of short fiction and poetry, but it hasn't been in the UnderGuide. It's been in regular conversation threads.

When I first joined H2G2 in 2001, there were a lot of "Fan Club" threads. There are almost none of those left now. Instead, we have real conversations, or invitations to write a bad poem or short short story, or discuss the Gulf Oil Spill with someone living in the Gulf. I like it that when something major happens in some part of the world, we often have researchers who live there, and can discuss what the event is doing to them. I've made friends in South Africa, Denmark, Canada, and a number of other countries. I've enjoyed friendly competitions with other researchers to see who could write a sonnet using three words picked at random (hairnet, tires, and banana bread, for instance). I've enjoyed threads where a researcher would give a quote from a poem, and the rest of us would try to identify the poet and the title. There are also threads for nonsense poems and bad haiku. There are word association threads.

This is a great site for friends who like to stimulate each other's creativity.

Hopefully in nutoo, we won't get yikesed for a bit of playful double entendre, (such as Frankie Howerd would make when I was a kid). It's common sense to know when something goes over the top...or if something really nasty is happening.

Curtains.

Yeah a curtains club would be fun on nutoo.

Y'know effers, I am a lot more optomistic now than I was this time last Tuesday morning.

I was all ready at that time to dig out my black tie for when it was going to be needed.

Not now though!!!


GT

"In the days prior to the BBC then we manged without reactive moderation."

No we didn't. We had exactly reactive moderation. If there was a problem someone would alert the editors, who would take action. It was just done without a specific button to push.

It is REALLY REALLY hard to moderate something fairly when you have a huge interest in it. It's even harder when you don't like someone, have had a falling out with a friend, or an ex-partner on the site who think everything you post is about them. So IF the site continues and has members of the community running it, then moderation decisions should not be taken alone.

Age limit - just put it back how it was and remove it. The Beeb I believe shut us down to 16 year olds as the pre-moderated CBBC board members were taking advantage of other community sites to get away with things they weren't allowed to do.

How old were YOU when you read Douglas Adams for the first time? 11? 12? They can either find their own bit of site to hang out in, or they'll learn to comunicate with adults, or they'll get bored and run away.

h2g2 could never have made it this far without volunteers, but without someone overall in charge I don't think we can make it.

*Bookmark*

It's a balancing act, as is much of life.

Another thought.

I'd be very interested to see the results of the BBC pop-up customer surveys which occur from time to time. Can I request the committee ask the BBC whether these could be made available.

I'd need to know what lurkers currently think about h2g2 before I could begin to understand what the opportunities are for the site.

I'd also be interested in page hit stats - has anyone asked for this?

Icy

I was never allowed to fill in these surveys just because I don't live in the UK.

Same here. I'm sure the BBC had its reasons for only surveying U.K. users, but they missed the chance to assess the full strength of their ... usership [is there such a word?]. This comes back to affect them now because potential buyers will probably want to know how large the group of users is, and what they want.

Yes, I'm sure they thought people from other countries don't matter for them. And especially in the case of h2g2 that's wrong, at least if you see the bigger picture.

Yep!!

That is the first question anyone with half a brain is going to ask.....


"Just how big IS this hootoo thing?"

And Auntie Beeb will just !


GT

We are Legion

MR posted a link to this world map resarchers: http://www.mapservices.org/myguestmap/map/h2g2

Her blog about h2g2 is worth reading: http://missoularedhead.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/why-a-silly-website-matters/

My guess is that the BBC would not be able to release those numbers now, though of course they may well be able to at a later stage. I'm sure the h2g2c3 committee will ask for them at the appropriate time.

Ben

According to http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/01/h2g2_refresh_design_and_techni.html
1,000,000 unique users

I do however believe that to be the first of several factual errors in that post - alone my number of test accounts probably counts for a few percents.

That's an amazing map. I have no ideas what the little icons (pigs, butterflies, etc.) mean, though.

Paul

Put your cursor on the icon, click and it will tell you who it is!!!!



GT