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

Apparently happy days are not here again. Strange days have found us, is what's happened. I've been mediated, though I committed no crime. I can hardly be bothered to post now. Sitting hurts my back and sitting here typing messages really knocks the stuffing out of me. What's the point if they're just going to remove my messages for absolutely no reason. I might as well go and read a book instead. Fed up

Oh Sal

I know how you feel. Yesterday I sat and cried as I typed. Silly isn't it?
Don't want to leave here. May end up having to. Principles.
I get the impression my sort are not wanted but I'm totally amazed they moderated you.
They have obviously decide you are sowing sedition by daring to suggest our wonderful Government may have (heaven forfend) a Political motive.

Have some more . It's a wonderful painkiller

I was just glugging down a nice glass of tequila and orange juice - also a good pain killer, but makes you go a bit Mexican. I'll save the chocy for later. Thank you very much. Very kind of you.

Peet reckons they must have some automated system for picking out suspect posts. He thinks it must home in on names and urls. I put Nick Brown's name in that post that got yanked. Whoops. There I go again. Ah well. If Peet's right, this should disappear too. If it does, I'll let you know.

What do you mean by your sort? Do you mean all the lovely, slightly naughty little poppets will have to go? Nooooo! I'm sure you're wrong about that. I think the PTBs have just temporarily taken leave of their senses and normal service will soon be resumed. It seems Mark and Peta have gone on holiday. They must be the balancing force that keeps this lot in kilter. They'll be back in a week. Can you hold your breath till then?

Sal

PS I meant I'd been moderated, not mediated. That was the tequila talking.

Ah! Another moderation moan. Hi Peeps . My song Titles Thread is getting massacred
Wumbeevil just had the words, 'it ain't me' removed from one posting becaue it was "copyright material" . (Apparently a lyric from the same chappy who originally did Knocking on Heavens door).
For heaven's sake, if you looked at just about any sentence anywhere I'm sure you could pick up a word sequence that has been used in some song somewhere.


This is becoming total madness n'est pas? I have to agree with Peet, it must be automated, surely no person could be this ridiculous. Also, they must be looking at "Song Titles" like a hawk otherwise and I really would hope someone would have something better to do.

Oh Sal You are a sweetie Thank you.
*feels all warm and happy now*
Yes, I can hold my breath almost indefinitely - I'm a singer.
I finally managed to swim 10 metres (after only 30 years of learning) by wearing goggles, earplugs and a nose clip and holding my breath all the way
Now I'm trying for 15m

I don't think it's necessarily an automated system. They're probably just not very bright people who're way out of their depth. The one in the song thread hasn't heard of Onan. Perhaps we could "blind them with science". My mum and I used to really annoy the older kids (when they were younger) by using English words they couldn't understand when we wanted to talk privately devant les enfants. (It ultimately did wonders for their vocabulary)

I agree with you Orc. I've had terrible problems for years. Being a singer with eclectic tastes I find almost anything anyone says reminds me of a song. People keep throwing things at me.
(Yes, ESPECIALLY when I sing like K*** B*** ahem Little Behemoth)

As fer yer 2nd paragraph ~ I hope he/she/it IS looking at ST like a hawk ~ obviously needs the education.

Hi Trill, Aww you've not got your spaces back yet . Did Wumbeevil and myself not explain well or do I need to hand you a "roundtooit"?

As you've no doubt read on [url removed by moderator]I realised it couldn't be automated when they even removed a totally reworded ST. Bizarre. . I suspect they might be picking on me because of the mooning thing I started - tee hee - we shall see who has the last laugh. They must certainly be getting educated now as the whole thread has descended into thinly veiled abuse . I only hope Dr Kareem stays aboard when he reads it tomorrow as his talk on email during the interregnum was pretty uncompromising at times and he did threatened to hack into their system and remove everything he ever wrote if he doesnt like what he sees on the return. I don't want my friends to disappear from here due to moderator over zealousness. This place is still rather fun really.

I'm flabbergasted at Sal's, Little B's and your own post (well, the most recent one anyway )being removed.

Maybe they really are playing Big Brother, who's going to be first to get voted off h2g2?

I'd be very grateful for a round tuit thanks Orc. I've got 3 job app forms waiting to be completed (or even started) and at least 4 washloads to do. . .
You explained very well thank you - altho' I only found yours this morning - I'm sure it wasn't there last night

Afternoon fellow fumers. Well that knocks Peet's theory on the head, doesn't it. My post (no 3) hasn't been pulled and my post to jwf last night (3am actually), which contained no person's name or url, was pull pronto. Not to worry, I've posted it elsewhere as you might anticipate.

It's bizarre isn't it? Song titles Orcus? Are you saying it's illegal to mention song titles? Next thing you know they'll be pulling out posts because they have words in them! I don't know about you guys but I haven't personally invented any of these words I'm brazenly typing in this post - so I guess they must all belong to someone else. I wonder how long it'll take them to decide anything containing letters of the alphabet must go. Who does the alphabet belong to?

Now you've got the hang of swimming Kat, perhaps we should go back to the water. As DNA said, it was a mistake to leave it in the first place. I'll aim to evolve into a whale and then surround the moderators with a bubble net and swallow them. They must be useful for something. Nice with a splash of mint sauce. Bah.

I'm astonished at what the mods do remove but "Onan" - no, they wouldn't remove his name would they. He's probably their patron saint or something.

Sal

Sal. You're not allowed to mention mint sauce round here. That'll get pulled fer sewer.
*Starts countdown:
deg. . .naw. . .wyth. . .saith. . .chwech. . .pump. . .pedwar. . .tri. . .dau. . .un. . .dim. . .*

BTW Sal, I'm already a whale. Perhaps I should just fall on 'em and squash 'em flat

I've just had some more posts removed. Shall I try for the record?

Arrrghh, Welsh. They've been trying to stamp out Welsh for centuries (ze English pigdogs and the BBC couldn't stand all the phlegm spraying everyone within spitting distance of the wonderful wonderful Welsh speakers).

Yeah, go fer it gal! Confuse, abuse and amuse. Now we're rockin'! I'll hold 'em while you flatten them - or we could try tickling them.

Sal

Well if they try to stamp out Cymric they'll have my 8 year old to reckon with (He of the 666 birthmark and the red-eyed dog) - he's been correcting my pronunciation

Have you seen Wumbeevil's picture of my Salpigdog?

Shall I try putting it on entoogee too?

"if they try"? Kat, they've been at it for ... well, hundreds of years. The Welsh have viewed it as a form of genocide (uh oh - I mentioned genocide - this post won't hang around long). Y'know I'm half Welsh don't you? When my ma was at school, Welsh was more or less outlawed. All this Welsh language spoken in Welsh schools not is a recent development. Good for the kid. Quick, feed that dog before he eats the cat

What's your Salpigdog? How did Wumbee get a pic of it? Yeah, put it up. Lets have a look at it.

Sal

No, I meant "If the mod.s try", not the govt. I gave up on them ages ago. (That's this post pulled)

OK. I'll put them up in my tent in the woods. (Do you think anyone will mind if I park the campervan there?)

Ah, my mistake. I beg your pardon.

What a little cutie! Is she your Salpigdog or the Salpigdog of a friend? How could anyone want to put such a little darling in a sandwich with egg and tomatoes?

I think everyone will be cool about you parking your camper over there. We've become travellers. We have to live somewhere.

Sal

Well, I'm sorry for barging in here....but *sniffs sadly* I am in desparate need of rational thought!
I had a post consisting of a list of my favourite book titles.. just titles, for crying out loud accompanied by a very brief opinion of my very own! I had it up so that anyone who had read the books and had an opnion on them who might like to discuss them could contact me to do so. Well, apparently book titles are outlawed too. Not to mention one's opinions on said book titles.
I'm feeling a bit at a loss here. I was so trhilled when we came back up. No I think I need you to pass that teqilla my way!

cheers-
the very sad Ariel

Sal! Don't leave us.

I agree that waiting until Mark and Peta get back from their hols is a good idea.

Mind you, none of my posts have been pulled despite my bestest efforts. Pro-ant favouritism?

Amy the Ant

Hej Ariel
Bring your books over to our camp in the woods if you've got 'nowhere to go to'.
It's dot communism of the entoogeetoo sort. Yahoo! Hurrah!

Hey Sal - take a look over in the BOG

Amy, I think they're just scared you'll set the gi-ants on them

How nice of you girls to drop in. I've finished sulking for the time being. Told you I'd speak to you soon Ariel - I've just told you this so you could skip to the next paragraph to avoid repetition. My missing posts are back and Abi said the mods are learning and the reason for yanking the first message was that I quoted Nick Brown.

I'll gladly supply the tequila, but I can't pluck any logic from this moderation lark. There's a new agenda but I can't tell whether it's a snake or an elephant judging from the bit I've seen so far.

Sorry to hear about your loss Ariel. Book titles? What on earth is wrong with book titles? It's no good, it'll take a more subtle mind than mine to work that one out - or perhaps an unhinged mind could managed the twisted logic needed.

Vegiman suggested yesterday, having read one of my stolen messages that the most likely explanation was mischievous use of that little turquoise "yikes" button. After I'd thought about that for 5 minutes I was even more annoyed. At least the mods are a force we can all feel united against. It appears that anyone just passing through h2g2 can click that button and cause your messages to disappear. Your messages can be deleted (at least temporarily) by any idiot off the street or a "playful" child. I wonder if it'll make us less open and more wary. Until Vegiman explained how the thing worked, I thought it would work like an alarm bell just calling a mod over to check the message. It seems it disappears once the objector has sent their message of objection and doesn't reappear until a moderator reinstates it. I wonder if we'll be told who pressed the button on us if that's the reason our messages are hidden. I don't like it. It feels like a policy of divide and conquer.

I'll go along with your theory of pro-ant favouritism Amy. Everybody prefers ants to salamanders and that's a fact!

I've had a look at the BOG Kat. Some of it was very funny but most of it was too deep for me

Sal

That's very interesting... the stuff about the Linda button. I also thought that its purpose was to attract the attention of a moderator. So, someone comes along, presses the button and your post goes ~puff~ into thin air? Hmmm.

I can't claim to have tried it Amy but Vegiman say a message box appears into which the button pusher enters their complaint and then when they post the complaint, the offending message disappears until someone with the power to do so, puts it back -unhides it.

Sal