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

>> The question is WHY would you describe h2g2 in 140 characters
without using in-jokes etc.

As I said, I want a conversational answer. I have h2g2 paraphernalia, it's useful to be able to say "It's...................." when I am asked "What's that?".

The 140 characters or less was my attempt to kill two birds () with one stone .

Delusion?

You're just plain wrong. And I'm going to explain why.

*deep breaths*

Hi JWF,

I don't think we've met. Off site, I do this for a living. Not post on forums, as that pays terribly, but I disseminate information on the internet. I use every tool at my disposal to put messages across.

And frankly, I'm not bad at it.

If there's one single, solitary lesson that I cannot afford to ignore, it's this.

People don't care enough about what you're selling to listen to you babble on.

If you're not concise, you lose readers. Why? Not because they're ignorant, or stupid, or limited. But because they're busy.

When I'm online, I've got an RSS feeder with 200 or so industry blogs. I'm a member of multiple forums. I run two Twitter accounts for business and pleasure. I spend far too much time on h2g2.

And I do all that in the time when I'm not working.

So if you think I'm going to give you two or three minutes of my time if you can't summarise how listening to you is going to benefit me in under 140 characters, you're deluded.

We don't have to sell h2g2 in 140 characters.

We have to hook people in 140 characters. We need to tease them, whet their appetites and make them want to find out more. And this isn't new-fangled web 2.0 bullshit, this is how newspapers have worked for decades.

Wit's got nothing to do with it. People are busy. If you can't get an idea over quickly, you're not going to get your idea over.

>>..it's useful to be able to say
"It's...................." when I
am asked "What's that?". <<

Do what Mr603 does. Just insult them for being
uninformed and ignorant, suggest that they must
be supporters of dictatorships and therefore are
not worth 3 minutes of your time.

Then turn on your turbo-chargers and rush off to
a one course microwave dinner while watching news
headlines and whistling Dixie.

Oh, throw in elitist too, that always informs well.


~jwf~

What a strange conversation this is

We certainly need more people to write and maintain our repository of quality content. We will need people to read it too, as this will keep the site solvent, and in the due course of time pay for Z's Ferrari, sorry, I mean the Foundation thingie.

Hell, I don't care who reads it - even Twitter users are welcome

That doesn't really help me, now, does it?

- I was replying to ~jwf~

I apologise for insulting you JWF. The Mubarak comment was beyond the pale when it came to an example of how ideas expressed on Twitter are not necessarily as vapid and pointless as you describe.

But I'll stand by my assertion that you're spectacularly misinformed. And that you're wrong, and that your comments remind me of dozens of similar comments from various social media skeptics and snobs.

Post 22 explains why Blue's wish to be able to decribe h2g2 concisely is vitally important if we're going to drum up more interest in h2g2.

Well, you're not going to describe h2g2 in real terms in 140 characters, not in a way that would be universally agreed. So you'll have to allude to it, maybe by quoting Adams or even 2legs (which would be my preferred line of enquiry)

>>..doesn't really help me, now, does it? <<

OK, fair dues. Let me translate my suggestion
and fill in the blank bit of what to say when
asked 'What is h2g2?'

Start with:
"It's hard to explain. It's a website started by
some guy who wrote one of the funniest but ironically
one of the most serious books on the subject of the
meaning of life. The people there are still arguing
about the meaning of life, while trying to amuse and
challenge and inform each other."

Pause to allow them a word or question but deflect it
back to:

"You sorta gotta check it out yourself. And y'have t'give
it a chance to grow on ya. I admit I've learned a lot about
Life, the Universe and Everything there, but like everywhere
else on the web you gotta just ignore all the usual..."

That's what I would say if anyone ever asked me.
Honest injun, I would.


~jwf~

(Looks at skye and whistles)

how about

h2g2 - a collaborative Guide to Life the Universe and Everything, started by the man who coined the phrase, written by the most imaginative community on the internet.

139 characters?

Booom.... tish!

That's 140 with the #tag. Thank you Robbie.

When can we have a smiley?

*Tries that in Twitter* Actually more like 169 characters.

#h2g2 - the Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything. Written by the most imaginitive community on the internet. www.h2g2.com

135 characters!

I think it's because spaces count as characters on Twitter...

"h2g2 - a collaborative Guide to Life the Universe and Everything, started by the man who coined the phrase, written by the most imaginative community on the internet."



I'm afraid . . . .





If someone said that to me . . . .





I'd say . . . .







"Oh. A fan site."











I fear that almost any pitch for h2g2 is going to sound like it's a fan site.



But then, I expect almost any `pitch for *any* website is going to make it sound like a fan site.


After all, most adverts for washing flakes sound like they're proselytizing a new religion. It's sort of the nature of advertising, isn't it?


Maybe the best way to promote the site would be to pass around copies of the first book with "h2g2.com" scrawled across the cover in big friendly letters.



I can't for the life of me think of a way to pitch the place to someone who doesn't know about the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy which wouldn't make it look like a fan site or a wikithingy wannabe or both and maybe with twitface thrown in as well. Last time I tried while avoiding DNA references the response was

"Oh. An internet forum."

My neurons are getting off right now, I´ll be in bed in brief.

I´ll give some thought to this proposal of Blue during the weekend. I´ll take it as a challenge, as if the teacher of English would had asked me to write a limerick or something like that.

I still don´t know who is Douglas Adams, he and his work is not the reason why I came here for first time( actually it was here the first time I knew about him) and it´s not the reason why I stayed.

I´ve said the reasons many times in different threads. Mrs Zen opened one after the announcement of the BBC disposal.
I think that Beatrice opened one similar to this, and well, there are many more, like that of the summer of 2009 with the MOT, where lots of people wrote about their love for h2.

hasta mañana, good night.

I think that the balance we need to find is the message which does indeed reflect the heritage but also does reach out to people who have never heard of HHGG or Douglas. The "naming of things" is always fundamental. So the idea is to find ways of describing what we do that do "speak" to where we came from but also look forward. For example the idea of being able to be a field researcher for a Guide to Life the Universe and Everything, will automatically resonate for a fan but would also mean something to somebody who had never heard the radio series, seen the TV or read the books... I also think that there is something interesting in pointing out that this phrase ( and I saw it being used all over the place with the recent Higgs Boson stories) Life the Universe and Everything was coined by Douglas who started the site. I don't think that is too fan boyish - hope not. But in any event as has been pointed out the "coined by phrase" is to many characters for this challenge!

Maybe you should describe h2g2 with lots of random line breaks. Then nobody would bother reading it.

(I don't know what Ed's post means.)


I'm not bothering to count characters, but how about something like:



"Anyone can be a Field Researcher for the Hitch Hiker's Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything."




?