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

Hello Blackpoolbabe!
Don't Panic! Help is here! I'm an ACE; Assistant Community Editor. ACEs are volunteers who are generally nice people, and usually helpful too, although I'm not really that good at being very helpful. However if you have a problem, or perhaps several problems, I'll be delighted to help, because I get lonely if no one talks back to me...
Anyway, if you want to wander round the Guide (and I strongly recommend it! ), then I've sort of set up a links page here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A623945
It's not difficult to get lost but there is always the button labelled 'My Space' to go back to if you do.
And if you have problems, ask away.

¦M¦

(PS - I am not an automated message)
(PS - I am not an automated message)
(PS - I am not am automated message)
(PPS - I think my record just got stuck )

.... and I'm just one of these people with (apparently) too much time on their hands who float () around H2G2 ...

How did I get here? Ummm. . . just clicked on your name in that House Rules' posting of yours. Actually that works for all users/researchers here.

Share and enjoy

gee thanks ming mang i am not sure if i am still doing this right ,do you automatically get this reply or does it go up on a public board .??????i am used to a different kind of chatroom to this an i use it through my tv not a pc so i may not get all the benifits you get from a pc,it has taken me a week to get this far.but i supose its all fun .(me laughs) it keeps me of the streets ha ha ha .what else does this do???

tube i got ya mate,but how do i get peoples names to write to from the house rules ??? where do i get the names and how do i find out who is about to talk to ???? i got lots of questions i aint used to this kind of chat i go through my tv not on a pc so it may be a little different to you .

It arrives in this conversation here, and I see that someone has replied to it because it shows up on my space. This isn't real time like chat.
Are you using WebTV then?
Erm... what do you mean by 'what else does this do'?

¦M¦

well i use telewest tv through cable and someone sent this to me through my e-mail with no instruction how to log on or use it i have just fumbled about to try to get it goingi still dont know really what i am doing....can i clear messages once i have read them and how do i get o find out who is about and writting is there a page that gives you the names of people who use this cosh i am confusing myself not hard to do though after 12 hours at work .can more than 1 person join in a conversation etc etc...am i babbling on a bit to much ??

Greetings, Blackpoolbabe!

Basically, h2g2 is a giant message board (if you don't count the articles). Anyone can join any conversation, and everyone can see them. You don't need to clear any messages, as they're all stored at the BBC, where you can see them at any time as webpages, which is what you're viewing now.

And there most certainly is a page where you can see who else is here.
If you click on the 'Who's Online' button above, a list will pop up with all the people who are online. You can then click a link to go to their own user space.

Oh, and h2g2 should be just as functional on a TV as through a PC, so no worries there.

look, this is like an enormous black board. You write something and it appears as a posting to a forum (as with your comment to the house rules; Forum = House Rules; Comment = What you said.)
You post something and everybody who feels compelled to reply does so. Once there is more than one person who wants to reply to you, you end up with a discussion like this.
There are heaps of people talking to you all of which you've never met. The easy way to find out about them is to click their User Name (for me that's the "Tube" printed in yellow above.) You will be taken to their peronal space (U########).
Or you just reply to them in person by starting a new message to this thread by adressing the person (e.g. Ming Mang, you said that....."
You can't cear any message someone's written to you (unless you want to complain about it)
Who is about? Either reply to the ones who post at your space, joint conversations or use the "Who's online"-button...
More than one person can join a conversation.... it starts to be difficult to keep tarck once there are more than 10 people involved... but you'll get used to that

Tube

i thank you for the info ou sent to me i will try to continue to get used to it but i have to say i keep finding bits then i can never find them again but i have 2 days of work now to spend bobbing about and exploring ,who knows what i may find next .i hope we make contact again soon
thanks again.

I hate to interrupt, but, you do have mouse, don't you?
You are able to see the framing with the little red buttons that say '
Front Page' and so forth?
If you do, then when all else fails, simply click on 'My Space'.
You can proceed from there.
If still confused, try to access the 'Help' button.
I know you've been blizzarded with assistance. I'm new here myself.
I still have things to learn.

If you find something you really like, bookmark it.

¦M¦

People keep using that phrase. How does one do that with Windrows?

Ah, I'm assuming you're using a version of Internet Explorer. They don't call them bookmarks from some reason.
To bookmark the page, however, go to the Favourites menu, and click on Add to Favourites. It's simple from there.

another way to bookmark using Internet Explrer is to hit CTRL + D when you are on a page you want to mark - this automatically adds the page to your favourites. (can't do guideML at the moment- please imagine a smiley here..)

Aha! Been doing it all along and didn't know I was doing it! One more bit of unconscious competence.

Jon, to do smileys in forums look here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Smiley
GuideML only works in Entries - pages that you create, not postings like these.

¦M¦

Someone might want to mention that when you click on my space and return to your personal page there is a list of recent conversations
clicking on the time stated there will get one back to that conversation.

Here's my bit on how to find your way around ...

Welcome By The Way

As you travel round, you will find more and more interesting things.
Do not worry about getting lost, you can always return "home" by clicking on the "My Space" button on each page.
Every conversation you take part in will be listed on your page, these are your "threads". Every time someone posts after you, the thread will be refreshed on your page.
You can then return and reply if you wish.
If you hit the "posted" link it will take you to the last time that you posted in the thread (good for checking what's happened since then) If you hit the "last reply" it will take you to the last post in the thread.
When you no longer wish to participate in a particular conversation, you can click the "unsubscribe" link just below it, and the thread will be removed from your page. Then click on "my space" to return home.



Enjoy!!
Have fun!!!
and above all DON'T PANIC!!!


Feisor