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

OoJakapiv

Do you remember this conversation?

Phred: Jeremy has only been on h2g2 for one day..this is the first thing he has ever posted..I apologize for my obtuse comment, but I thought that your response to his posting might have been a bit softer and that you could have done more mentoring if you chose to respond at all. Obviously you have been on this site a long time and written many superb articles. I love this site because of the effort that most members make to be extremely civil. I'm sorry I brought this up..I should have just unsubcribed and let it go.

OoJakapiv:..I'm perfectly civil when someone deserves it, and even sometimes when they don't. But I was brought up to believe that when you go into someone else's house you take time to acquaint yourself with the way things are done there instead of barging in like a bull in a china shop and it irks me when people do that.

So, OoJakapiv, how do new guests find out the rules to someone else's house? Perhaps they stumble upon a rule list or perhaps they are gently directed to it. Take off the shoes? Hold hands and pray before dinner? Don't eat with the left hand? Of course!

People are going to continually stumble in and do and post inappropriate things. You might as just well be annoyed by drivers talking on cell phones or tailgaters on the highway.

You are obviously greatly respected and well liked online. I like to read your journals and great articles. I just would like you to set a better example for handling (or ignoring) inapporpriate peer review posts. Bugar didn't throw a hissy. He was justly offended.

That thread does ring a bell although I can't remember the circumstances surrounding it.

However, if you're going to bring up that one, also cite all the threads relating to PR newbies submitting unsuitable material where I said absolutely nothing, or was perfectly helpful and constructive. Which of course is difficult to almost impossible because there are far too many of them, and you don't know which ones I've seen and which ones I haven't - you're not aware of all the times I said nothing because there was nothing to see.

Suffice it to say that the number of threads where I say something that people like yourself consider unhelpful is far outshadowed by the number of threads where I don't, but every once in a while my patience will be tried and I will say something.

Now, regarding your question about how new guests find the rules to someone else's house - they take their time, they look around, they find their feet, they observe, they have patience, and they ask. One can't expect to know eveything on the first day that one joins an organisation, but that's what people who jump in with both feet are doing - they're assuming that they know how it works. Basing your behaviour on assumptions almost always puts you on thin ice.

Bugar *did* throw a hissy fit - instead of allowing the merest inkling of the idea that perhaps he had slipped up somehow, he stamped his little foot and threw a tantrum. He did something that so many people seem to do - he invoked a presumed knowledge of Douglas Adams' mind and intentions and tried to throw that back in my face. And then he signed off with a , which suggests to me rather childish behaviour. A more adult approach would have been to stand up for himself and ask what he had done that was wrong.

And I do get annoyed by tailgaters and people who drive while using their cellphone. Both are dangerous activities, and both are (in the UK at least) against the law.

I do appreciate your words about me being liked and respected, although I'm pretty sure there are also some who would prefer to see me gone, and I hope my entries and journals will continue to bring enjoyment. h2g2 means a lot to me and it's an enormous pleasure and privilege to be a part of it. This was brought home to me when the HHGTTG film premiered last month and I was asked by the manager of the cinema where I work to present a little trivia quiz before each showing of the film on opening weekend, and talk a bit about Douglas and the HHGTTG. I also took the time to tell the audience about h2g2 and how they could be a part of this project and write entries for some thing which DNA founded.

I have standards. I have standards of behaviour, of manners, and of writing, and I will always stand by them and stand up for them. I wouldn't dream, for instance, of saying something along the lines of 'What an idiot' or 'Take this pile of a rubbish out of PR you muppet'. Now that *would* be rude and uncivil. But nor do I believe that people should always be treated as if they will shatter into a thousand pieces if one bad thing is said to them. I will never be outright rude in PR but nor, I think, will I ever be 'fluffy'.

If you haven't already come across this, here's a link to a piece I wrote this morning in something of a hurry A3745983 - the analogies are far from perfect and my words shouldn't be taken literally, but I hope you can see what I'm getting at. Perhaps I'll rewrite it over time and submit it to The Post, as I've done with other similar pieces.

Yes, I saw you make a number of very helpful and thoughtful posts to inappropriate articles a few weeks ago. I hope you can always maintain that standard and be an example to others.

I think Bugar will be back and I'm almost sure that his article will be edited and make the grade.



Your stuff is always fun to read. This "review" comment is not worthy of someone with your talent and intelligence. It just seems short tempered.

People like myself? There are no people remotely like myself. But thasnks for the thought.

"This "review" comment is not worthy of someone with your talent and intelligence. It just seems short tempered"
It was indeed short tempered - I have faults just as we all do, and one which admit to, although I must also admit that I consider it less of a fault than most others but which no doubt is a fault none the less, is that I don't suffer fools gladly. I could be more understanding and helpful on more occasions than I am, but there are still many times when I am just that.

People like yourself... yes, it was wrong of me to use that particular phrase. Perhaps I should have said 'people who hold similar views on my behaviour in PR as yours'.

Fancy a then?

I'm well into my own private home brew stash.

Home brew Now you're talking What have you been making lately?

I make a wicked brown stout and a fine Savignon(sp?)"blan" as the French waiters say...five gallona at a crack...I've been making my own home brew since 1968...when also I began donning black Ninja outfits and searching cowpastures for mushrooms on moonless nights. I could talk sugar, carbolic acid, specific gravity and yeast for days.

Wait! I was just making up the cow pastures..(Homeland Security that was just hyperbole).