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

But serious, I don't know what H2G2 is. For years for me it was a private discussion group with a bunch of strangers-who-became-friends who all joined up roughly at the same time. I also wrote a few guide entries when only the best 3 of those promoted to the edited guide made it to the front page.

Later I started writing for The Post which was good fun. Recently I started to read "Ask H2G2" regularly.

I suspect that there are vast areas of H2G2 that are very active but I just don't know about them. I also suspect that there are areas that were active 10 years ago that haven't been touched since.

One thing I would love to know is page hits on The Post and also for Edited Guides. This is a site where lurking traditionally out did active engagement and if this is still true, then H2G2 is a lurk for a lot more people still: but what sort of lurk?

Maybe this site could trial out a facility for guest comments / questions as a staging post for full membership if the anon was so disposed?

Dunno - lurking is an art that people enjoy. Few modern internet travelers would, these days, struggle to sign up to a site even to make a single post.

However, when I first logged into H2G2 I was in awe of its content management system and user spaces. Nowdays they seem not quite as edgy as they once were... My point being that getting an account on H2G2 just to comment is a relatively heavy-weight task. I have no idea if it slows anybody down though.

I do have a sense that the average age of the site is much older than it used to be too.

A lot of people now, mind, are used to (myself included), signing in, to, E.G., blogs, etc., to comment, using ones google/GMail ID, or facebook (spit) etc... err, open ID is it called or soemthing? (and yeh, it sometimes drives me mad, when I find I'm already* logged into a site, without my having done so, by Gmail/Google, etc... )

I know what h2g2 is...

It's an Elephant...



Described by a group of blind men.



http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_poems_of_John_Godfrey_Saxe/The_Blind_Men_and_the_Elephant

but the people who comment aren't what keeps h2g2 afloat though,

Volunteers, readers(hits), writers, do

Sustainability requires fresh meat (or fresh veg).

The popularity of the site is difficult to judge, as things like reader hits to PS pages and entrys are are not available to see, or are they?

Very true SA. You will have noticed me praising the curators and sub-editors, scouts and other Guide Editors frequently. It is this band of hard-working volunteers who continually refresh the Guide, adding new material and keeping older Entries up to date. It's a constant process.



I'd love to be able to give feedback on the numbers bob. As a general rule our Entries are being well read, some of them hundreds of times each per day. Depending on the time of year, various ones become more popular - for instance the pumpkin one A462188 just now is one such.

I made a list of other fairly popular entries a while back, for our 14th Birthday bash. But literally, these were just a representative few of the thousands of our wonderful Entries that people are reading, world wide.

Top 14 Most Popular Entries A87791953

Even if a researcher has written a single Entry, depending on the interest level and content, someone somewhere will have read it, or be reading it this very moment.

Feedback might encourage production in some areas.

The apparent lack of academic entries on the list is interesting

>> The apparent lack of academic entries on the list is interesting <<

It suggests the young & student types don't form the bulk of the hits. Maybe someone could write an entry on that Justin Biebel dude or write an article entitled "exam techniques - don't panic" or sumfink & watch what happens with regards hits ...

ps For me the "Find h2g2 Entries" search box only works when I am logged into my account - otherwise I just get an error message saying page not found.

There is already an entry on written exam technique written in 2001. I would expect this to be popular around exam times assuming it was easy to find on google etc.
http://h2g2.com/approved_entry/A520859

I'm expecting the interest in cheese footballs this Christmas to bring the site to its knees - Pastey beware!

cheesy footballs

I'll see you off with cheesestraws Icy

cricket and rumpot anyone?

afternoon tea

When I sign out, and search, the system works perfectly.

For me, h2g2 is as it always was the Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything.

I've written, subedited and helped produce about 700 entries, and made minor changes to several thousand others. All this is so that this can be best guide in the Universe.

I can vouch for the amount of work that Gnomon's done behind the scenes editing, updating and tweaking entries. It's a truly astounding achievement.

Could do with a name change to "Phegnomenal"

I mean phegnomonal

>> a sense that the average age of the site is much older than it used to be too. <<

Yeah all the remaining originals are at least 13 years older.


~jwf~