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

Hello Shagbark you're the first person to have earned a Scavenger badge since I took over running the Scavengers. Well done!

Your Flea Market Rescues to date are:

A653230 - The Big Bang
Original: A343856 - The Big Bang Theory by U103337 - Calroth

A23965347 - Constellations: Ursa Major 'the Great Bear'
Original: A545285 - Ursa Major by U32077 - Tango

A32778516 - Constellations: Corona Borealis 'the Northern Crown'
Original: A946802 - Star constellations: The Nothern Crown by U153076 - Cefpret

A44719798 - The US Electoral College
Original: A495001 - Reform in the Electoral College by U159516 - Proboscis

A67976987 - New Hampshire, USA
Original: A12623267 - New Hampshire, USA by U4594965 - RevKeltina

A68188747 - Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Original: A3670210 - Grand Rapids, MI, USA by U1321262 - khyron1144


As you've recently been awarded a Scavenger badge I was wondering if I could interview you for SuperMarket – a monthly series about the Flea Market that appears in . If I ask you a series of questions, are you able to answer as many or as few as you wish.

What made you decide to rescue the articles you have?

If you'd like to talk about each article that has been rescued, as well as the 'Cartoon Genius' one which is in Peer Review, I'm happy to hear all you have to say.

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 entry?
I know that Galaxy Babe did some curating changes to your Ursa Major article - how did that feel?

And lastly, how does it feel to have been awarded a nice, shiny scavenger badge?

I hope that you'll be happy to answer these questions, and if you do you'll be able to see your interview in hopefully the next (June) edition of SuperMarket.

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I have been busy with other things and just now noticed the message. give me a couple hours to think up answers and I will post them here.
(or did you want an e-mail?

A message here is fine - e-mail is a little temperamental at the moment. But thanks for agreeing - I look forward to reading what you have to say!

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What made you decide to rescue the articles you have?

I try to look at the flea market once a week, sometimes like when Olddsmobile hit the Flea market I have other problems to deal with and say I am not prepared to do a rescue at this time. Other times I say this looks like a good time I will give it a shot. The current effort just caught my eye and I thought before this disappears into obscurity I will get it out and into PR.

If you'd like to talk about each article that has been rescued, as well as the 'Cartoon Genius' one which is in Peer Review, I'm happy to hear all you have to say.

this answer got a bit long- feel free to shorten it.
The constellation entries are different from my other rescues. Ever since my childhood I have been an avid amateur Astronomer. When the constellation project first came up I wanted to be a part of it but was unhappy with the way a certain physicist dealt with what I had written.
You may note a difference in A940880 which was mine and A946802 which is what he made of it. I was hurt at the time and so asked my name be removed. So when it got to the flea market it had only his name amnd mine had joined my delete stack. GB's efforts on the other hand seemed to add rather than change information.
New Hampshire and Grand Rapids were both geographical, but different in that I have personally been to Grand Rapids, while all I knew about New Hampshire came off the internet. The Big Bang and the Electoral college were me trying to push the envelope a bit and see what would come up in PR.

Would you only rescue articles about subjects you know well?
I would want to know a certain minimum about the subject but if I could quickly learn more I wouldn't need to know it "well" or better than the original author.

Have you approached a Flea Market Rescue any differently to how you write an article from scratch?
Is it easier or more difficult?
It is easier in that the original author gave part of the info already. It is harder in that I have to figure out if the info (or links) still are current and are they correct.

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?
I try to make the article more readable and add to the commendable effort someone has already made to contribute to the guide.
I feel I have the right to correct errors but not to completely suppress what the original author was trying to say.

Would you recommend doing Flea Market rescues to other researchers?
Of course I would. find one you can put a little time in and see if you can make it shine. Be sure to snatch it up before someone else does.

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 entry?
I know that Galaxy Babe did some curating changes to your Ursa Major article - how did that feel?
A good example is A87726504 chickory. I don't feel I can bring that up to what an approved Article should look like. If someone else has more inspiration or more knowledge and does a good rescue I would graciously step aside and let it become theirs.

how does it feel to have been awarded a nice, shiny scavenger badge?
I generally work in classic goo. The badge there is anything but shiny- in fact it looks like an old rusty shield. I appreciate having the badge but wish it looked more like the 2 color badge in Pliny.

this completes my answers

Thanks very much!

I hope to put this in in the beginning of June, with perhaps a very minor amount of editing.

<BB<

I just noticed in my index that http://h2g2.com/approved_entry/A87607623 is also a flea market rescue.

Posted Jul 7, 2011

Vegetables is actually a flea market rescue.

original article A72332723

Okay, I'll add that one to the list.

Can I ask if you'd like to comment about it, as you have your other rescues, so I can amend the article for and include Vegetables too?

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One problem with the Article Vegetables is that researchers in PR wanted things that can be eaten like gold-leaf added so I had to say those are not vegetables. Even in solo articles I have had that problem of PR trying to take the article in another direction. so some times I set my foot down and say It is my name on the article, I will decide what gets included and if that means the article never gets approved so be it. Usually some scout will decide to pick it anyway if it meets all the guidelines.

I hate it when that happens, when you've written something and someone insists you should have written something completely different. I try to emphasise that when I make suggestions, they are suggestions and that the writer has the right to completely ignore anything I've said if they have reason to disagree.

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