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

Hello and welcome to h2g2, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Earth Edition) . I'm Unc, one of the <./>ACE</.>s.

To get you started, the <./>DontPanic-tour</.> is very useful . Feisor has also written a list of hints and links for new researchers which you can read at A719840.

Learn how to use these smileys at the <./>Smiley</.> page

A few places to go...
<./>Askh2g2</.> to ask a question to the h2g2 community
<./>Miscchat</.> for more general chat
A630019 is a list of clubs and societies
A1123354 to learn how to brighten up your user page

Read <./>thepost</.>, h2g2's very own newspaper to find out what's happening on site

If you want to help write the Guide, then try <./>contribute</.> , A1355195 is also very useful.

Need any help or simply want to chat, just reply to this message and I'll get back to you.
and ,
Unc

hello unc, thanks for the hello.
I'm looking forward to using the guide as a bit of discipline to get me writing - I've been a bit lazy.
Are there any good subjects to get my teeth into for contributions? I'd almost prefer to be set an assignment than wander through aimlessly. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

pip pip
hrhpod

In which case how about a look at <./>challengeh2g2</.>. It consists of ideas for entries that people have thought should be in the guide but can't write themselves, so you could find an idea for an entry there and take one up. Otherwise, every now and then there's a collaborative entry, I think there's one on Queen at the moment on the front page. For them yo just wirte what you know, and then information from the threads is turned into an entry.

cool, thanks unc.

You're welcome . If you've written an entry then A1355195 is also a good place to have it checked over before taking it to peer review

too late - i've already been mauled for piece I put up on sunday. I've moved it to underguide and it seems better placed there.

thanks again
kim

Oh dear, peer review can be quite harsh which is why it's nice for entries to be given a look through and more friendly advice to be given first. The underguide has it's own categorising so entries can be found that way . If an entry doesn't fit the writing guidelines then you might what to consider submiting it to <./>thepost</.>

I seem to have found a likemind in underguide - I think my perception of what h2g2 ought to be about is more in tune with the underguide than the thought police at PR. It was like having a conversation with daleks. 'piece is not strictly factual. does not compute. exterminate' LOL.
I think I'll trawl through underguide for the time being. I didn't come here to write and read strictly factual - if I wanted that I'd stick to reading Guardian Unlimited. I came here for some fun. I think some people are missing the point - of Life, the Universe and Everything!
Don't worry, I won't panic - I know where my towel is.

best regards
kim deal

Plenty of people are with you on this . People in peer review have generally been on the site for ages and have written quite a lot of the entries, some have written over a hundred each. It's a huge site though and there's plenty of room for everyone, and the UG is great for the many good entries that don't fit the writing guidelines. I got 2 entries through peer review but they're on somewhat less serious topics (play dough and toffee popcorn)

hmmm. so a serious entry about a silly subject is ok but a silly entry about a serious subject isn't. double standards! lol.
ah well, maybe I'll write an indepth piece about curly wurlys.

still, seems wrong somehow.....

There are different types of articles within the edited guide, and there are quite a few short, less serious ones. One of Douglas Adams's own entries is quite a good example of this A5815. One of the first entries I read was on paperclips and how if you joined them all up you could whizz them round your head and pretend you were a helicopter

now that I will read! I've got millions of paperclips, I've been looking for something to do with the buggers!
- Oh hope you didn't take offense - I wasn't meaning to demean your work on popcorn - a worthy subject matter. I was being glib - I promise.

You're welcome to tear it to pieces if you wish, I wrote it when I first joined the site, not having a clue what the writing guidelines were, and that was 2 years ago now . It is meant to be a guide to everything, so toffee popcorn has to be included in that

who am I to criticise a piece that has made it through the mighty peer review!
I wouldn't dare.
he he

I wouldn't mind, honest, people criticise edited entries, correct the spelling or point out where the facts are wrong all the time.