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

Five referred posts in the last 200. That's not a big amount in hootoo terms.

"I don't think people have been misbehaving in this thread, at least not to the extent that a closure is warranted."

I don't know, I don't think this thread is doing anyone any favours. There's been good questions asked but there has also been mud-slinging and some pretty unusual behaviour from a lot of people. It's been weird, actually, so... un-h2g2.

Perhaps only 5 posts have been referred, but the whole thread has been rocky. If this thread were to be closed and new threads started that actually discussed the issues themselves, would that not be more productive than keeping this alive?

Having read the house rules I think the OP was deliberately pushing the envelope..and chancing their arm,pushing their luck..snocking a snoot and frankly trying to be obstreperous, all under the guise of wanting to know what was allowed when all they needed to do was to actually READ the House Rules.



What's that?

They are down at the bottom of each and every page.

I see it quite differently Vip

It looks like *classic* hootoo to me, and is reminiscent of many other threads where we have needed to talk about issues that affect the community.

The only problem I can see with this thread is that (a) the mods need a break to get the tools storted (and maybe the CEs need time to get their process sorted too), and (b) the timing is not good in terms of us just having moved and having a fairly full plate already.

I guess because I see these community discussions as essentially useful to the community I have a higher tolerance for uncomfortable things than some others. But it concerns me that the bar would be set so low. I know some people really hate this kind of thread, so that difference in itself is something the community will need to grapple with now that we get some choice about how we are.

There's been a number of very important issues that have arisen and been thrashed out here:

1. what's the standard of language here, and do we want to change it?

2. where are the boundaries for the mods and CEs, and how can they post as researchers when they are involved in moderation?

3. what does the community do if someone opens a new account and starts trolling (irrespective of whether that's what's happened here or not)?

4. does the community have the right and/or responsibility to take action separate from the moderation system?

All of those issues are core to our survival as a community and I personally have learnt new things and developed new thinking as a result of being in this thread.



As for mudslinging and odd behaviour, I remember the thread as alot of people making a real effort to post in a considered and thoughtful way. A few people threw a few missiles, but the thread itself wasn't characterised by that. The behaviour looks very similar to all the other threads we've had in the past, with the exception of the boundary thing to do with the mods (which is new for all of us).

We have taken the decision to close this thread. While it has had some good, productive moments it has also had personal attacks which affected the quality of the discussions.

We would like the topics to have a clean start and not be affected by some of the negative ways they happened in here.

Thanks for the questions raised; we hope they will turn into productive conversations in the future. We are not banning the topics of discussion, but we do ask that they are carried out without personal comments from either side.


The h2g2 Community Editors.