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

Lucinda,

I'm sorry to hear that you are leaving because you are not happy with h2g2.

You say "h2g2 has ... finally got to the point where it's sufficiently different to my ideal to ditch this site in favour of another collaborative online encyclopaedia".

Would you like to say what your ideal of such an encyclopaedia is? It might give us some ideas on ways in which we can improve h2g2.

I don't know about 'improve'. What I want is *different* - not necessarilly better.

My/our ideal would be:

* Decentralized. h2g2 is centralized, and it is becoming more so over time. I think a more decentralized approach would suit me better.

* Collaborative. h2g2 makes it hard to collaborate on an entry, or to make updates to an existing entry. It also makes it impossible to update posts.

* Better tech. DNA is closed-source, and aims to be a generic tech. Perhaps as a result, it feels inferior to competing techs.

* Open content. Content on h2g2 is very much closed. The T&Cs require the granting of complete rights to the BBC, and are incompatible with GPDL'd content. I would prefer a copyright situation similar to either wikipedia (all content is GPDL'd) or live journal (all content is wholly owned by the author).

* Guide-focused. The notion of a h2g2 as a collaborative encyclopeadia seems to be treated as a gimmick rather than the fundamental purpose of the site.

* Privacy friendly. With compulsorary "Who's Online" and "My Conversations" features, h2g2 is not privacy-friendly, and is becoming less so over time.

I think those are the important ones. Individually they're not deal-breaking, but put together they are sufficient motive to take a serious look at the alternatives.

-Martin

Hmm, there's a lot to think about there. I certainly consider the primary purpopse of h2g2 to be the construction of the Edited Guide, and I've worked hard at it. But I know there are many who have never written an entry, let alone an Edited one.

Let us know how you get on with the alternatives.

Wikipedia seems to have an impressive amount of stuff (from a quick root around for my favourite weird subjects) but (again from a very quick look) less of a community, and the articles seem drier (though generally with more technical content) than h2g2's. My guess is that getting the good bits of both at the same time would be difficult .

Well anyway, I'll be sorry to see you go Lucinda - some of my favourite guide entries and conversations have had you on the other end.

Ahh, don't piss off . I know things have been a bit up in the air for the past couple of months, but I reckon waiting and seeing how things turn out wouldn't be such a bad idea, rather than leaving premeturely. Right now we've all got chances to change the site for the better- help shift the focus back to the Guide- if all of us that want that leave, rather than trying to change things, they'll be nothing left but a chat room, and that would be sad.

Gnomon - sure thing. It's curious that while wikipedia and e2 both have articles on h2g2, the converse is not true.

HenryS - yeah, it's a compromise. I've already ruled out everything2 because it doesn't have external links, and I view that as a serious weakness. There are other problems too, so I don't think it's viable for me.

Kerr - *shrug* I expect h2g2 will move further away from my ideal, even if I stay here. I'm not one for fighting the universe, I'm afraid. I'll try to stay in touch, though

-Martin

Hey Lucinda,

It'll be a sad day when you leave h2g2 - I for one will miss your constructive feedback and criticism of the way the site functions and evolves.

Hopefully you won't abandon the site completely and I sincerely hope that you will return on a regular basis.

Many thanks

Ashley

At the risk this looking like a love bombing campaign by the Italics, I just wanted to say I will miss you too. I have always thought very highly of you even if we haven't always agreed and you have always given me food for thought.

Any way your embarrassing thing will be in the post shortly. Take care and see you in January.

Dear Lucinda,

My turn next Thanks for all your contributions to the site: trawling through Fleamarket, the early days of the Scouting scheme, features suggestions and general chit chat.

It'll be a quiet time at h2g2 without you.

Cheerio for now, come back and visit, and hope to see you at the next meetup *waves*

Anna

My first reaction on hearing the news that you were leaving was to weep tears of joy. Actually, that's not true. On reflection, I think I'm a little sad. Your consistent effort and energy on site showed us all that h2g2 really meant something to you. I really appreciated the fact that you seemed to care. You've done much to contribute to this site and we're all very appreciative of the fact. You'll be missed. I hope you come back to h2g2 from time to time, Lucinda. Take it easy - I hope everything goes well for you.

All the best,

Sam.

I'll be sorry to see you go, Lucinda. BTW, I'm writing an Entry on E2. It's taking a while, though. It's quite complicated!

Whoami?

Sie's taken me off hir friends list!

That's why I'll miss 'it/them'.

Ashley - I'm sure you won't miss the criticism that much. Just ask yourself "What would an anarcho-communist do?"...

Abi - I look forward to it! And don't worry about sounding like a hippy - it suits you...

Anna - oh, I think there are enough rebels around to keep the place interesting You're a great Editor - if only there were a hundred of you...

Sam - I'm still curious to see how it all pans out, so I'm sure I won't be able to resist popping in from time to time. Take care

Whoami - good to hear. I'd like to think of all the guides: E2, h2g2, wikipedia, and even the conventional ones, as working towards the same goal - it's just a shame that petty things like copyright prevent us from working more closely together

I hope everyone knows that I bear no grudges to anybody on the site. You're all great people, and it's just a shame you live in a place that doesn't quite suit me any more. And when I figure out where to move to, I hope you'll come and see me some time

-Lucinda

Sorry Doctor - I'm just cutting down my subscriptions, not trying to cut off friends There are other genderfxxked people around, so you won't get lonely...

-Lucinda ing at all the compliments

I think all the different projects will produce different guides - all with their own advantages and disadvantages, specialities and gaps. That's how life should be - varied.

You'll have to let us know if you get 7-card P*pe-Stain accepted anywhere.

I'm afraid I don't have any italics in my Username and it's not nearly so short as some of the others, but there you go!

First, the obligatory and totally standardised plea: Lucinda, please don't go!

OK, now the Legal stuff is out of the way, I can say: yes, h2g2 is a little bit gimmicky, and no, it's not very privacy friendly, though this can be a good thing and a bad. And it's not so technical as one could wish, another two-way element. I notice that I don't write entries so much as chat - true to my procrastinator roots. And with some people, it's a place to preach, or to talk, or to read an entry and make a one-time account, or somewhere to try and put up a high-school project in the hope it gets edited. And I /really/ hate the fact that the BBC has the copyright to our edited entries, because in most cases the entries aren't changed drastically in the editing (so far as I can see, does anyone want to confirm/refute this? Italics?) And finally, I haven't got much to say about DNA - though I might have by the end of my Masters. Or if I ever get a transfer to a better Uni.

And some people, like Hoovooloo, look like they're going to be leaving the Guide quite soon. I'll really miss him if he goes, just as I'll miss you.

So I do hope you'll check back every so often. And I also hope you'll tell us where you end up going, so we can pop by and say something other than 'hi' (because that would rhyme with 'by'). Goodbye!

(Sorry, it was a golden opportunity!)

I don't really know you very well. All I know is a few things that I've read about you, and that's not very much to know about a person, is it? But I do like what I see. And I'm also going to embarass you - you may as well address that cheque/postal order to 'We Are Traverse City, Inc' right now - you won't have any money once you've quit your job!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy wherever you go, and hope you won't mind popping in periodically to see how we're doing.

- Jordan

I think the Edited Copyright thing is fine - no-one said you couldn't ask them nicely for permission to reproduce the final version...

Whoami?

But they can let you forward it to anyone, even if you wouldn't like them to. I wonder if we could live in a world without copyrights?

What do you think, Lucinda? (Shameless attempt to hook her into a weird conversation, hoping she'll forget to leave...)

- Jordan

WhoAmI - I personally doubt they'd let me submit any of the Edited versions to wikipedia - but if you think there's a chance, I suppose I could ask. What do you think?

Jordan - Thanks for the kind words. Of course, we did live in a world without intellectual property until comparatively recently: Nobody got a patent on fire... We could certainly manage with much less restrictive copyright laws than we have at the moment.

-Martin