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

Welcome to h2g2!

I am Eternity an Ace (assistant community editor). The Aces are a volunteer group on h2g2 that greet new researchers.

Should you have any questions you need answered, or just feel like a chat, please feel free to pop round to my page or just respond to this posting and I will be with you asap.

Here are a couple of links you may find useful...

Smiley Page - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Smiley
GuideML clinic - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A187229
Colonel Sellers Overwhelmingly Huge Guide to h2g2 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A270325
The h2g2 Post - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U54963
H2G2 Statistics - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/info?
The Aces Homepage - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/ACES
Favourite Songs of all Time - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A539156

Enjoy!

Eternity

dear eternity,

thank you ever so much for offering your help. i am as a matter of fact slightly lost about a few things.

one is: how come most other researchers have nicknames and i've just got a ridiculous row of numbers as if wasn't hard enough to remember my phone number already?

the other is: the entries i read are well written, informative, funny and all that, but the conversations are mostly concerned with drinking. have i lived too long away from england and don't understand simple rituals any more? is it a generation problem? is it a secret language? or did i simply go to the wrong places and am opening my ginormous mouth too soon?

and yet another, and then i promise i'll shut up: are there any requirements to write the entries and who decides what goes in or not?

well thanks again

Hi Nicola!

To change your nickname, click on the orange preferences button at the top of the page (just below the top actually). It will take you to a screen that will allow you to change your nick to whatever you like.

What kind of conversation do you enjoy or maybe the question should be, what are your interests? There are many different groups/clubs etc within the community. If I have an idea of what you enjoy, I can point you in the right direction.

A lot of the h2g2 researchers get a little preoccupied with drinking and partying. There are always parties going on all over the place where huge quantities of , , and occasionally are consumed and some hash- as well sometimes. Many conversations that that begin with specific topics deteriorate rather rapidly into drinking sessions. Occasionally the topic continues until the conversation dies away completely.

If you find articles that you feel are really good and informative (that haven't been included in the edited guide) you can refer them to Peer Review - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/PeerReview. Here things are kept rather serious as the articles concerned are being considered for inclusion in the edited guide.

You can also go to the Whats coming up page - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/ComingUp. These are articles which have been selected for inclusion in the edited guide. At this point you have the opportunity to add your 2 cents worth regarding any information you feel the researcher has missed etc.

You can write about anything you wish. It is however advisable to first search for the topic to see whether someone else has already written an article on that topic.

If it has been edited already, you can approach a scout - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Scouts - or a sub-editor - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/SubEditors - to find out how you can add to the article if you feel it is necessary. Ideally you want a topic that has not been written about yet.

If you feel that your article is good enough to be included in the edited guide, feel free to take it over to peer review or wait for someone else to read it and take it there.

Once you have an article in the peer review system, it will get scrutinised by the scouts and other researchers that hang out there. If they feel that something can be added or changed they will suggest the changes to you. Should a scout think it is a excellent entry, they will recommend it for editing. If it is accepted it will be taken out of peer review and be marked as a recommended article. From there it goes to the whats coming up page, and then it is given to a sub editor for editing (the recommended will change to pending), and before you know it your article will be on the front page as an Edited Guide Entry.

Another option which would allow you to skip all of that would be to apply to be a University Field Researcher. Have a look at their page for more info on what that involves - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/University.

*takes a deep breath* whew!!!

It is always a pleasure to help , and I hope I have . I rattled so much off there that I don't even know if I made any sense .

Eternity