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

This entry has no place in the Guide.

It doesn't seem to be humourous. It seems to be an excuse to be gratuitously offensive and use some swearwords like an 'adult'.


I doubt I will receive a reply but in fairness I should give you a chance to explain this entry and why it should remain on H2G2.

Looks more like a user page than an entry.
Looks more like a doodle than a user page.
You can't stop researchers from doodling on their user pages; on the web, everyone is free to make fools of themselves.

I think I can guarantee, as a Subbie, that this page will never find a home among the Approved Entries of the Guide, because it does not meet standards. Chiefly, it does not inform.

Bobberette, what's it about? Are you from Wales?

User page, approved entry, whatever - what controls are there to prevent people putting one-off pages of drivel like this or (more importantly) actually putting pages of bigoted material? If this rubbish was a little more offensive and about a 'recognised' group of prejudice victims such as Jews or Black people then would anyone remove it? Would anyone remove Bobberette? Is this practical at all? Or do we have to accept that any amount of information that is racist/libelous/deliberately incorrect can be put on H2G2 with the only sanction being not to 'approve' it?

Huw, I think you raise important points and I am going to invite some other researchers over to discuss them.

The way I read it, this infantile raving has been posted by a disullusioned Welsh person - probably on a wet summer day.

In my opinion the only crime worse than bigotry is inaccuracy. Wales is not all bad. They had a competitive rugby team in the 70s.

Welsh icon Tom Jones is currently touring my home country (NZ), playing to sell-out audiences. I suppose this proves perceived bad taste is universal.

Judging by the fact that this homepage was written over 7 weeks ago, and that the owner (sorry, can't remember their user name) has neither posted to a forum, let alone written an article is evidence enough.
Whether the person is lurking about h2g2 and hasn't gotten around to contributing to the site yet or has forgotten about it is beside the point. What you have to realise is after the change last week, all researchers pages automatically became 'articles they had written'
and since Huw B only posted his displeasure at the entry yesterday, it can be assumed he/she was doing a search on 'Wales', came across this 'article' and vented his anger.
I will give the owner of this page the benefit of the doubt and say that this was written a) as something to put on his page thus deleting the 'This researcher hasn't...' default and b) probably in a moment of annoyance at something happening to the person IRL. As to where the person is from, who can tell.(it is irelevant)!
Admittedly the use of bad language (although masked) should definately be discouraged, due to the wide age range that frequents this site. So a warning for this should be effected. Persistance should be brought to the attention of people such as Peta and the PTWVH.

With regard to Huw B's comments, I would have thought that if a researcher came across something that they felt was blatantly racist etc, dropping a note to the ACE's page to inform somebody, would get a few people checking it out, and appropriate action taken. Under the Terms and Conditions of h2g2 there is this: "Minimum standards Use of the site constitutes acceptance of the following terms and conditions. You agree not to use the forum to transmit material that: .promotes bigotry, racism, hatred, or harm of any kind against any group or individual; .is harassing, defamatory, invasive of another's privacy, abusive, threatening, obscene or otherwise objectionable; .that infringes the intellectual property or other rights of another; .that contains advertising or other forms of commercial solicitation." Also there is this under the 'Don't Panic' page: "14. Miscellaneous Questions 14.1 Someone's posting really nasty or obscene stuff in Forums or in their Guide Entries. Can you stop them? Absolutely. If you are offended by someone else's actions on h2g2 let the Editor know and he will deal with the situation in the correct manner. Our terms and conditions are clear on the issues of obscenity and offensive behaviour: we don't want it on h2g2." For editor they mean Mark Moxon. Such an example is here: http://www.h2g2.com/F9598?thread=57247. So Huw B, if you feel it warrants it, drop a line directly to Mark, or post here and we shall bring it to someone's attention.

Well, something's happened. I went to read the 'offensive material' only to find a blank page.

If that is all the reaction bobberette is going to give, that's a shame. I did invite him to comment.

bobberette, if you're still about, please accept our discussion in a constructive spirit. You joined a village.

I think H2G2 is more of a city by this time. I mean, fifty thousand people is a bit mroe than a village can hold.