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

I know this forum has been a little quiet of late, but with the small amount of initial publicity it got it was quite a success. I think it would be something we could feature in each issue; we're tossing around a couple of ideas to resculpt The Post over the summer, and I'd be keen to have a Post discussion page as part of it. I'm very happy with the way this has gone, and thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. I may even go so far as to ask B'Elana to unveil it in the next issue.

My only concern is that, at the moment, the 'What is the Post Readers' Forum?' section makes it sound, to me, a little unfriendly. It sounds like you can't say this here and you can't say that, but the more places people have to have their say, the better. We don't want people to submit articles to this forum, obviously, but if someone were to post a correction here or compliment a writer that isn't really an issue. If the former happened, we'd say 'thanks very much!', and if the latter we'd point the commenter towards the relevant article. So perhaps we could be a bit more fluffy?

You may note that I'm a little more relaxed about such things lately. As long as everything still works ok then it's fine, right?

I'd imagine most, if not all, of the Team would be happy to subscribe here and discuss anything that needs a little editorial input, so feel free to mention that we're around to help out with ideas and so on. We just won't do it from this account, that's all

We may also use this forum to get feedback on new ideas that we've come up with ourselves, so that our regular readers and subscribers get previews before the rest of the community. So stay tuned, and

Rich

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Thanks Rich - good points.

This forum was experimental, but my guiding principles are that it should be 'owned' by the Post Reader and Contributor, and that it should be independent of the Post Editorial Team. The restrictions are in part to reinforce this, but I'm happy to relax them, or to consign them to a less prominent area of the page - please suggest wording changes.



Are you sure you'd want to take corrections here? Shouldn't that be somewhere closer to the Post itself? - you have the article pages, the Post Front Page and the Post Office page already.



So, where would be the primary place to discuss that sort of thing?

Icy

I guess it's fine as it is. You're quite right - I shouldn't really be sticking my oar regarding the layout and content of the page any more than the Eds should be sticking theirs in the PR forum. I was really just wondering if it's wise to restrict what people can say too much, because if people post in the wrong place, at least they're posting...

Of course we'd prefer corrections to come to the Post Team email account, but people do post them in the 'wrong' place from time to time. Even the inestimable Gnomon has been guilty of such crimes in the past! So while we don't want to encourage people to leave corrections here, I don't think it's strictly necessary to tell them they can't. We'd make the correction and let them know about the email address for future reference, that's all.

'So, where would be the primary place to discuss that sort of thing?' - Here! But we'd post as Skankyrich, B'Elana and so on rather than as Post Team. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Ultimately, it's your baby, it's a great idea, and we'd like to start publicising it more. If you're happy with it as it is, so am I - there's a tendency to debate every little nuance with stuff like this, and it's more important to tell people about it and get people using it than to pore over every detail. I'm trying to get over this tendency I have for micromanagement

Oh, I don't feel it's 'my baby' at all. I created it under an anonymous account and have no particular plans to 'do' things with it, other than maintain it as a forum for Post readers where one didn't previously exist.

I agree that the wording is a little negative, and I'll take another look at it. Again, please suggest any specific changes you would like to see.

Alternatively, if you think the whole thing is dead and would be better served by a Post-controlled forum, then let me know. All I want is to do is facilitate, after all, and saw this as the best way to achieve it. There's more than one way to skin a cat, though.

>>Alternatively, if you think the whole thing is dead and would be better served by a Post-controlled forum<<

Well no, it's a very good idea and we're happy to promote it and contribute.