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

Hello Gosho

Today I found that you've had a previously uncredited Flea Market Rescue: Marshmallow Peeps - a Seasonal Sweet based on the original by Pi. I then wondered whether I may interview you for the next issue of Super Market?

If so, are you able to answer these questions:

Would you like to tell me anything about this article that you have rescued?

(Are there any others I don't know about?)

Would you only rescue articles about subjects you know well?

Have you approached a Flea Market Rescue any differently to how you write an article from scratch? Is it easier or more difficult?

When you write a Flea Market rescue, how do you decide what to keep and what to edit, and how much of a right do you feel that you have in making decisions about the article?

Would you recommend doing Flea Market rescues to other researchers?

How do you think you would feel about being on the other side, about someone else making changes to an entry you had written, if someone tried to rescue an entry you had abandoned?

How much revision do you think proper in a FM Rescue?

Are there any questions you think I should have asked, or anything else you'd like to say?

Are you considering doing another Flea Market Rescue in the near future?

I hope you're happy for me to interview you - if you have anything else you wish to add, anything you don't want to answer etc, or you think all of my questions are rubbish and you'd rather answer ones that you've thought up, then please feel free to say!

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Sure, I'm happy to do it, but what's Super Market?

It's something I write for , one a month, saying what's going on in h2g2's Flea Market.

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Okay, let's see...

Would you like to tell me anything about this article that you have rescued?

I can't remember how I came across it in the first place, but it struck a chord with me because the first job I had after leaving school was making sweets and I'd already written one other confectionary-related entry, followed by a few more after this one. Marshmallow was one of things I'd made during my time as a sugar boiler. It might be that Easter was coming up and I wanted to write about Peeps because, although I'd been living in the US for a couple of years by then, I'd only just found out about these things. I'd always do a search before starting on a new entry and this one must have come up in the results. Having looked at the entry just now, for the first time in a fair few years, I can see that it needs a bit of Curating.


(Are there any others I don't know about?)

I don't think so. I think that's the only Flea Market entry I've had published in the Guide. Leastways, the only solo one I can think of.


Would you only rescue articles about subjects you know well?

Definitely. When creating entries, either new or from an existing entry, I've stuck with the advice given to budding fiction writers - write about what you know. It sure didn't do the careers of John le Carré, JRR Tolkien or Ian Fleming any harm, although exactly what JK Rowling knows about wizardry is open to speculation.


Have you approached a Flea Market Rescue any differently to how you write an article from scratch? Is it easier or more difficult?

Well, you have to approach it differently because you're not starting with a clean slate - there's already content there which has to be taken into consideration. It depends on how good the original entry is. Updates and Flea Market rescues can be just as easy as writing an entry from scratch, often easier because so much of the information is already there, including some you might not have considered or thought of yourself, and laid out in a way you might not have; perhaps better, perhaps not. The only difficult thing about a Flea Market/update task is deciding how much of the original to take out or leave in and how to weave your own content around it. It's good to leave the original Researcher's fingerprints on it if you can, although... (see next question)


When you write a Flea Market rescue, how do you decide what to keep and what to edit, and how much of a right do you feel that you have in making decisions about the article?

Again, it depends on how much work the original writer put in, how accurate it is, how relevant to your knowledge of the subject matter. It's my opinion that once a Researcher has agreed to have their entry put in the Flea Market (if that's how it got there) they've effectively abandoned it; absolved themselves of any further involvement or responsibility for it, apart from having their name on the entry if and when it gets into the Guide, but if they're still around there's no reason why they shouldn't be approached if the rescuer thinks it's appropriate/useful.


Would you recommend doing Flea Market rescues to other researchers?

Sure. It's a good way to get inspiration to write about a subject you might not have otherwise considered.


How do you think you would feel about being on the other side, about someone else making changes to an entry you had written, if someone tried to rescue an entry you had abandoned?

See above.


How much revision do you think proper in a FM Rescue?

That depends entirely on the entry. As a Scout I saw entries go to the Flea Market that were not far off ready to be recommended for editing, and others that virtually needed a complete rewrite but which had the potential for a fine entry. The original entry might have been written by someone who knew little about the subject and based it almost entirely on research, whereas you might be an expert on the subject. I think I saw that happen once or twice in PR.

Are there any questions you think I should have asked, or anything else you'd like to say?
I don't think so.

Are you considering doing another Flea Market Rescue in the near future?
I don't have any plans to, but you should never say never.

Thanks - that's exactly the sort of thing I wanted to hear.

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