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

Yes, I mean my company would probably not approve. But yes, the final design is posted on a sign. It hasn't happened in this case yet, I don't know when it will.

I think for a start I'll write a journal, but I've been thinking about writing Entries about this topic for quite a while, it just seems very difficult to explain.

I'm afraid under our current policy we can't just upload any number of pictures for unedited Entries, PS and so on.
But there's a way around that for everyone: if I want to have a picture on hootoo but not use it in an Edited Entry I send it to the Post ad write something about it. This makes the guys at the Post happy because they get more content and I can use my pictures in any unedited Entry as well as my PS if I want.

"[Having to get photographs approved] feels like censorship."

Don't ever read the submission criteria for the edited guide then. All those sub-editors "censoring" your work.

Editing a guide entry is not censorship..correct grammar and spelling and correct facts are very important..However my artwork is another matter..

At the moment we don't have images in threads, even journal threads, or entries for a few reasons.

There's things like moderation/appropriateness. We can't monitor every image that someone wants to upload, even with the kind offer of help to do such a thing, we'd have to alter the code involved (and there's no way that we could alter the Ripley code, so it'd only work on the Pliny framework) as well as build the new moderation tools. Any image that gets uploaded would have to be checked for decency and copyright/ownership, and that's a lot of new stuff to check. The Artists have a hard time already checking those for images for the Edited Guide.

There's also the aspect of server space to demand ratio. Images take up space, there's no denying it. And even with a popular journal (like Dmitri's, which I recommend) the images would get a "hit" to start with, and then be rarely requested. But they'd still take up server space. We're not really in a position yet to handle that.

We are looking at other ways though, but they do still mostly involve the images being hosted elsewhere. I'm very open to suggestions of the best sites to host images (such as Flickr) where we may be able to automatically pull those images in given a pasted link.

How about allowing each researcher space for five pictures. They can earn credits for more by doing things such as getting an entry edited, getting quote of the week or designing a new smiley.

Good ideas, the more you contribute, the more you get back.

Lets be honest
A picture paints a thousand words is somewhat obsolete.
Nowadays an image is equivalent of several million letters.

That's why it's now possible to have more than one picture per Edited Entry. Pictures often help a lot to explain things.

Could you do the twitter thing of having an option to show image previews for pictures linked to, and then if people want to see the full picture clicking through to it?

That way h2g2 doesn't have to host them but you can still see pictures in the thread, should people enable the option. Doesn't get around the issue of people linking to bad pictures though.

By using a site like Flickr, Pastey is saying, we automatically overcome the hurdle of appropriateness because Flicker and Photobucket et al would do our moderating for us. And then the code becomes feasible because it would only have to check against a shortlist of sites when deciding to allow the image.

Those sound like good ideas!

I was mostly offline all weekend and came late to Hoovooloo's latest .

Oh, well. Personally, I often enjoyed reading some of his opinions but I probably missed a lot of the things that put others off. I hate to see any hootooers leave, new or old with only a few exceptions.

Personally, in answer to the title, I'll be here as long as I feel like staying and that doesn't seem likely to change soon.

I'm still awaiting the second coming of nighthoover... I didn't think I was alowed to leave, at least until after that happens

You'll know Nighthoover is approaching when you hear a giant sucking sound. He [or she?] will be looking for you, 2Legs, as you are the most faithful acolyte of all. Nighthoover might make you a saint, and you won't have to die first.

But I'm just guessing.

I'm guessing 2legs is quite used to giant sucking sounds

Oh. how I lament the loss of QUOTD having just read that last post Oh... ouch. err. I mean. I'm sure I don't know what you mean.

2Legs, why do you think the Quote of the Day is lost? It's still there on the Front Page as always. In fact, one your quotes is the quote of the day at the moment.

I thought it'd vanished

Dontcha just love his likkul legs?