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

So - seventh issue - is someone going to set up a mailing list already? Someone other than me, that is...

Are we ready for that step?

This is not related, but I noticed an entry from AWW that got recommended for the Edited Guide! Go figure! "A Tourist's Guide to Djibouti." I still saw some problems with it, but it's interesting that something could go from AWW back towards the Edited Guide. It sounds like the author had run it through Peer Review more than once. Maybe I was reading an old AWW thread that had been banished from Peer Review?

Completely confused...mailing list?

Should we move our AGG/GAG decision-making and scouting discussions off h2g2, email each other instead?

Isn't that like the old style Scout method?
I don't think anybody is paying attention.
That would be approaching some sort of semi-covert status, wouldn't it? Ivory Tower, smoke-filled rooms and all that?
I mean, I just got here. I'm staring at a pile of entries on Guide ML that I just printed out. In the hopes that I will get around to it soon.
Do youfolks know something I don't?

I think jwf is worried that people will enter the AGG/GAG page via our column in the Post. When they look around, they'll see our weird, sloppy discussions of which entries to use or not to use, they'll spy on what we're planning for next week, and they'll see the pale underbelly of AGG/GAG, which will make them say "CAC!"

Moving our discussions to an email list could breed "ivory tower" mentality, except that we seem to be open to anyone joining us as scouts or full-fledged AGG/GAG/CAC selectors. Theoretically people who want a sneak peek would be willing to snoop around the AGG/GAG page, but probably wouldn't join a mailing list just to see our boring discussions or get a sneak peek a few days early.

I'm not sure there's a lot of harm either way. I don't think we'll go corrupt if we start an email list (any more corrupt than already, hardeharharhar), and I don't think it really harms us or anyone for a few enterprising snoops to see our picks for the next week. All the rest of y'all decide.

Well, if it makes you happy, you can get my email from JWF. Tell him I said so.
otherwise, my point is that I'm not sure why this computer is functioning now or why it should choose to keep working if I start messing with it. Or this site.

Can somebody poke around on gaston's page and see if he's still having a good time? jwf, you wrote to him before about his other entries, right? He appears to have deleted all his entries except for a few of his orginals, and the ones that have gone in AGG/GAG.

A few weeks back he had several pieces listed on AWW. I didn't read them or recommend them because we had already picked one or two of his. But now when we're struggling to find some, and since it's been a few weeks since we used his, I thought gaston's pieces would save us. It appears that they're still accessible in some of the discussion threads on gaston's user page, because he posted his whole pieces when he submitted them to Peer Review &/or AWW.

But now I'm worried if he's angry about getting moderated or about his experiences with Peer Review. If he's angry, I hope it doesn't spill over to GAG, because he writes some damn good stories. It would be a pity if he was chased away from h2g2. (And a pity if we couldn't use those entries!)

I won't be able to recall all the answers to all the above questions so bear with me and ask again if I missed something and please forgive if this posting comes out terse or curt or cold but RL has encroached on my time.
The e-mail discussion option is always open for things you really can't say in the threads. Mine is on my homepage.
But for general discussion I'd still like to keep it public and open and avoid all the accusations and problems that come with the 'in crowd' mentality that creeps into these 'e-mail group' things. Not to mention the perceived burden of extra online time and replies and responsibilities and yadda yadda.

Mostly, I think if we stay in the public view, others will come and participate, hopefully. Right now we need more voices and we'll alweays need more scouting done. If people want to jump in they can.

This only seems to contradict my prior concerns about people 'holding back' criticism or fearful of leaving unkind words on display for all. That's why I think the 'numbered' conversations will work for bizness purposes so long as we cancel the ruff draft they are attached to and all 'unsubscribe' from each thread as we move on the next number. It would then only be accessible to someone logged on as AGG/GAG who 'uncanceled' the article for a brief reference if needed in future.
My real concern was cluttering up our conversation threads with bizness and bickering about submissions, but we'll keep those specific in the numbered threads. And carry on our philosphical chat in the older established threads like this one.

Issue #8 will be looking good thanks to your intros. I'll patch it all up Saturday or Sunday and then we can argue on to '9'.

I'm not sure about gaston, I will try to contact him. I Think Hobbes (where's he lately?) and Spiff also posted to him.

Question: Where (what thread, post numbers) were we discussing Corrie's Valentine piece. Either I've unsubscribed accidently or I'm going blind, because I can't find all the suggestions you guys had, and I want to incorporate them with my ideas for fixing some of the syntax/style things that would make it an easier read. Mind you, the style is somewhat ..uhm ..'stylized' like a Lord Byron or Victorian journal and that's part of its charm, we don't want to over-fix it.

Long post and I know I missed something but RL calls..

jwf

Dow-de-de-de-delow, dow-dow-dow! Dow-de-de-de-delow, dow-dow-dow!

Well, you know whaddi mean!

Hi all,

I haven't heard anything from Gaston la Gaffe since pre-bleak-midwinter, and I would be glad to pop over and see what he's up to (it's funny how things come to seem to have a very real 'spacial' dimension to them. I really think of G's space as a 'place' where I can 'go' and see what he's up to.

This makes me think of the unique sense that the word 'lurk' has acquired on this site. It's great how 'lurking' is common parlance around here, Anyone who hangs around here *notes the spacial dimension* for a while, reading people's converstation threads (which people inevitably end up doing at some stage if they get interested in h2g2 at all.

At first I found it quite wierd to see that people had constructed such diverse and complex structures, I think reasonably known as the various h2g2 'places'. I didn't really get that and concentrated on reading entries about stuff that interested me.

I have just incorporated the above into a journal entry to avoid drifting far, far from the topic here. Sorry if that makes it a bit wierd.

That also means that it is a while ago that I started this, and I can't really remember what I was going to say...

Well, one thing is that I am not keen on mailing lists. Pure apathy is the main sticking point but also ignorance. Naturally, the two combined form a powerful coalition against getting involved with one.

On the other hand, I am open to persuasion and it has made me think that I would not mind placing my hotmail address on my U-space for all and sundry. It's not exactly a state secret and it may come in handy. Besides, 99% of stuff that goes there is spamdross anyway.

So, my current good intention is to get my e-mail onto my page and if somebody asks for it in one of our multi-hydra-hedric threads (don't ask, I don't know either!) I would be happy to supply it without making any promises to read/reply/send 20 € to the previous sender's postal address and CC on to 500 other people and wait to receive 10, 000 Euros in small denominations over the course of the coming days.

Ah, as a great man once said, "I feel... un-u-sual! I think we should go outside."

Seeya
Spiff
*Mentally drifting aimlessly due to last night's inadequately moderate alcohol consumption*

I am immediately gratified and feel all warm and fuzzy that so many people are aware of Motorhead.

We watched a wonderful movie last night called 'Stiff Upper Lips' that made fun of the Merchant/Ivory period comdies of manners. It is one of those 'everything has now been said' movies where the script is no better than it should be and the acting is way above par.

Peter Ustinov has a large minor part that is simply marvelous.
So does Prunella Scales, of 'Fawlty Towers"

jwf,
I made some comments about Corrie's story in post #221 of this thread.

Spliff,
I thought you said you & tonsil were from different generations? But both listen to Motorhead? Just goes to show that Motorhead is timeless. (I'm 29, by the way.)

What are you doing up?
I was going to go to bed two hours ago until I tripped over the latest ban/don't ban thing.

Ban/Don't Ban, Yawn/Don't Yawn, it's ALL the SAME to ME!

Apparently a series of researchers using either the same ISP as LeKZ or else untraceable accounts have been doing a sort of leapfrog defending each other. No sooner does one get suspended by the Editors, then another one pops up to defend the first. I'm almost convinced by the fact that LeKZ's boyfriend says she didn't do it this time, and he's really an honest guy from what I've seen.

I have mixed feelings. It wouldn't kill anybody if LeKZ is really posting under a new name. But the rules about lifetime suspension would be moot if they let that happen. But the only evidence they have is circumstantial. But it's absurdly strong circumstantial.

Here's a topical piece I wrote that is probably totally wrong for AGG/GAG, but let me know what you think. "Ich Bin Ein Denver researcher!" http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A683417 It's an inside joke that people will only understand if they've followed the Lifetime Suspension gossip for quite a while.

Yeah, well. I just came from a pile of threads that took me all over the place. And whether it is ***** or not, there is something strange going on. I swear that someone is holding up a couple of threads by their selves, switching computers and talking to their alter ego, back and forth and just stirring the thing...keeping it up in the posts. Would ***** do something like that?

I'm starting to think that there should be a little more orientation to this site beyond what the aces and the old italics welcome page say. A little internet safety lecture.

I'll take a look right now.

I'm sorry. I get it. But I don't want it. I don't see much....humor in this mess. I got Silent Lucidityed.
Bossel accidently dumped me in the middle of one of Arpeggio's threads.

I spent about fifteen minutes on ***** metasite tonight off a link on willem's page. Ego. Lots of it.

Chris M is gone. Barton's doing his countdown again. wildflowergirl says she's going. and it means nothing to me.

going to bed...

Cybervandalism and cyberterrorism can be quite engaging and exciting but it is completely non-productive and ultimately destructive in many ways.

It is very easy to get involved in all that, because it invites participation on a highly charged emotional level and encourages ego-based expression and ventillation. But ranting and raging only produce anger, frowns and unhappiness.

Rights and liberties and the first amendment really have nothing to do with it. I cringe to see young folks caught up in the 'fairness' issue because they don't realise that drugs and alcohol and emotional instability and in some cases true mental illness, are really what is fueling it. Get thee behind me satan!

But it is very difficult to turn all that negative energy into positive action. Personally, I have been ignoring it for months and instead I let the AGG/GAG group give me something positive to exert my energies on.

Keeping the faith (in any context), has never been a strong point for me, but helping to preserve something of DNAs vision seems a much more worthwhile waste of time. If only because it's easier and more pleasant to smile and be smiled at.

jwf

Drugs and alcohol fueling it too???

Guess I did miss a few posts somewhere.

Never mind the Denver researchers joke. I don't really need it to be selected for AGG/GAG, just wanted someone to read it. It's a sad situation any way you look at it.

tonsil -- re: lot of ego on that site you hinted at. Of course there's a lot of ego. How could one avoid expressing a lot of ego when one has 20,000+ egos to describe?

Next topic...
If we get desperate for selections for #9, I suggest we pounce on gaston and see if he'll let us use one of his apparently deleted entries. (Fingers crossed)

Hi jw,

Just (finally) had a thought about what I might prefer to be called instead of SecGen. Late as usual, but hey...

So, I'd definitely much rather be designated 'Merry Prankster' on our home page. Would you be so kind as to do the honours for me, as I haven't got round to sorting out my password probs yet and can't sign on as AGG.

So, what else is new?

Seeya
Spiff

My daughter can read!
I gave her 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' to read last night as I was farting around in the Church library while the spousal unit was in choir practice...and the kid read it in character and rhythm right off the bat!
Hoo hoo, I have reproduced!

Unfortunately, there are now people who are saying within my child's earshot, to my wife, that it is evident that she is her father's child! Arf! Rowr! Hiss!

I had an earful of that crap when I was a child, from my mother:'You're just like your f***king father!'
Oddly enough, I thought this meant that she was promising to divorce me, too. A promise she never kept.

She also used to say to me,"You'll see. You'll have a kid one day, and you'll see. I hope they're just like you so you'll know."

Haha Heehee. I do, I did, I have, and I do!

Does this mean I've won?