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

Hi Mal. Welcome to h2g2. The problem with photos is the copyright issue. We used to be ablt to use pictures, but the BBC has strict guidelines, and we're all learning to live with them. Without the BBC the site would have been lost forever.
I'm not an official meeter and greeter, but a researcher who's been here a while. It's a great place, but very sad right now. There's a lot of new people here too.
While you wait for an ACE to drop by, why not take a look at this page, which has been written for any new researchers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Welcome
If you have any questions, just ask, although you may find the answer here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/DontPanic-FAQ Or just press the HELP button which takes you straight to it.

Hey, coelacanth!

Thanks for the welcome. Yes, it's a sad time -- OTOH, I finally registered here, thinking that in my own inadequate way I might contribute to the realization of something DNA visualized before nearly anyone else. (My father said to me, sometime in the late 1960s, that the problem he saw with the amount of information we were accumulating was that there wasn't an efficient means of collecting and distributing it, but he had great hopes that computers might come in handy that way, one day. Such are the benefits of being an electrical engineer with access to government information. But for the longest time I thought he was just psychic. <G&gt

I understand (mostly) about the copyright issue. Living in my own little world as I do, I have a little trouble seeing how it makes using photographs one has taken oneself a problem, but I also know that a lot of people have the bizarre impression that anything they find on the Web is in the Public Domain, and will happily appropriate words or pictures for their own use. I'll find a way around the problem or find something else to write about, I'm sure.

I've been to the Welcome page, and I'll check out the FAQ. Thank you for the warm welcome.

I think you should stick with the psychic theory!
My general piece of advice to you with regard to h2g2 is to read and lurk for a while, get a feel for the community, and if you feel like you want to contribute to a thread, make sure you are at the end of it! It's a good idea to check that it's not a long extinct conversation, although some get new life breathed into them and nobody minds really.
You'll get a warm welcome where ever you go.
If you look at my page you can see some of the effects that are possible with pictures.
The stats page will link you to who is talking and what they are talking about.
Enjoy.

Well, the psychic part is also sort of true, but from what I have been recently learning about the evolution of computers, I think he was just very aware of the potential of what they already had -- which is why he was in R&D in the first place, of course.

I'm a born lurker, so no problems there. This also isn't my first Web/Internet community (I've been Wired since about 1986, when it was Usenet and FIDONet, etc.), so I'll go carefully.

I'm a well know lurker here! I often get a wave in conversations that I've never posted to! I'd be interested to know your opinion on the h2g2 community, (once it settles down). How do you think it compares?
Prior to BBC takeover there were no moderators, and some people have found that difficult, but I do hear tell that the moderators were surprised by people who did things like this:
*waves to the moderators - having a busy weekend?*
since in other commmunities they'd have been ignored!

Hmmmm. Well, my experience of moderated forums (in the sense that these are moderated) has been limited, and not terribly positive -- back when I couldn't afford CompuServe and Prodigy was the only easily accessed online service (I had previously mostly hung out at private Bulletin Boards that were linked through FIDONet and the like) I subscribed, and it was open war between the "editors" and the members -- with good reason.

You see, the "editors" would bounce posts that they felt were off topic, inappropriate for a Family Board, or even just repeating what had been said before. There was actually a canned rejection notice that said the topic had "already been thoroughly discussed." We also discovered, with some experimenting, that use of "big words" would get us censored, presumably because the people who were doing the monitoring didn't know what "thespian" meant. It was a very bad joke come horribly to life. After awhile we would wax polysyllabic just to see if we would get bounced, and to gather ammunition to use in our protests. It wasn't a good situation, and it just kept getting worse. Eventually we weren't allowed to post original poetry in the Writing section because it might not be original, and the editors had no way of knowing if we were violating copyright or not. This was pre Web, so it wasn't as though we could link to personal sites -- the forums were our only way of communicating as a group. We didn't ignore our moderators -- we *baited* them. There was a mass exodus as soon as other flat-rate services became available.

Now, CompuServe, where I still subscribe because of the photography forums there, doesn't use moderators -- the SysOps drop one a private message if they feel one is getting out of line, and will delete posts if they feel it is absolutely necessary, but in the forums I frequent it never is. On the old GEnie service there wasn't a lot of moderating done (and again, the SysOps and forum leaders did it themselves). The posting boards and forums I visit on the Web tend to be pretty much self-policing -- sometimes we wish they weren't, as at one board kids sometimes post their home addresses and telephone numbers, and we can't get anyone to come delete them -- and flames can be a problem, but in general I'd rather deal with other people's badly brought up children and their tempers than censorship.

Still, the WWW is getting very populous (and a whole lot younger), and I suppose some structure is necessary. I haven't seen a lot of hidden messages here in my lurking, which I think would be a sign that things were not well, so I'm content to deal with Reality and see how it goes.

And occasionally wave to the Moderators.

Hi Malista... hello Coely... ~smile~...

Me is one of those strange ethral being that float around H2G2 calling themself ACE's... We are the official meeters and greeters at the guide... but me see's that you are in great hands... er flippers...fins.. whatever...
Coely is one of the best... you are lucky to be greeted by her... ~grin~ ... Me can only repeat the words of wisdom she offered you... and tell you that if you do have any problems here... people to help you are never far away...

Huggles, Greebs..

Thanks, Greebs! Yes, I've been well taken care of, and I will be sure to holler if I need help.

Just at the moment I have discovered that there doesn't seem to be an entry on how to write a sonnet, which I find startling. I may need to rectify that.

Mal

Please do Mal... is ti alright to cal you that??? Me for one would be very interested to read that article...

Me too. Go for it Mal. My record on writing Guide entries is dreadful, but I have promised the italics one on the coelacanth soon. I'm also writing one on Professor Brainstawn, following a challenge in the H2IQ quiz, run by..... Greebo!
Thank you Greebo.
Kind words from one of the nicest cats you could ever meet, Mal.
for Greebo, and one for Mal too.

~Eats doughnut... and then snaffles Mal's and eats that too... the gives Mal a huge huggle...~

Sorry... ~sheepish grin~... you know tis in my nature...

Hey Mal, have a look at this appeal for new Guide entries. I'm sure you'll be able to contribute:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A544367

There are writer's guidelines here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Contribute

Greebo --

You're certainly welcome to my doughnut. The way I tend to not be here, seemingly, it would have been stale before I had got to it anyway.

You and Stormy George, a cat who graciously allows my husband and me room in this house, would get along well. He likes doughnuts, too (but just the outside parts).

And of course you may call me "Mal."

coelacanth --

Thanks! I had seen that entry, and am thinking about it. My problem (self made, of course) is that the articles I have done all include illustrative photos, because it's far easier to be succinct and informative in a visual medium with examples than in just words, and I tend to do these things on the fly for people who want the answer to just one part of a process (like metering for backlight, or even just what meters really do, or what the settings on a digital camera are good for). I'm not a bad tech writer, but I've never tried explaining photography without examples. That might be rather like work.

But I have a lot of other interests, too, and I'm sure I'll find things I both can and want to write up to contribute.

And, also, too, thanks for the doughnut! Greebo really enjoyed it.

Mal

Me would enjoy another one even more... ~hopeful grin~