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

I saw your reply on Lesley's page. What seems to be the trouble?

I'll be glad to help out any way I can.

What is a researcher supposed to do why is it different to ordinaRY POSTS. i DON'T REMEMBER, AFTER GOING ROUND ALL THE REGIONS HOW i GOT ON TO BEING ONE. i MAINLY WROTE ABOUT dOVER cASTLE AND THOUGHT that would be that, sorry I kept Caplock on, Can't go back and alter it too busy.

Basically you need to make sure that your article meets the house rules (basically that it isn't offensive to anyone and child friendly) then submit it for peer review. If you click the "contribute" button along your button bar it has all of the links and details. If there is something you don't understand (welcome to my world!) just reply to this and ask me and I'll see if I can figure it out for you.

Thanks Batty ace, you can help me by telling me what this site is all about. There is a lot written but I don't seem to get much response. I am called a researcher. What is one supposed to be aiming to be? seems a funny sort of site. Because of time differences, I can never get a quick response. Cheers Marj

Don't worry about response times. This happens with a worldwide type site.

Did you ever read DNA's books on the Hitchhikers Guide? It's certainly not mandatory but it gives you an idea on what the site is like as it's meant to be similar to the guide in the books.

You can research pretty much anything and write about it. There are guide entries on everything from physical theory to thumb twiddling (no lie, Shea - another ACE - wrote this one). The house rules are at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/HouseRules and should be read before you write your research project.

You can go to the 'university' and see what projects are out there if you'd like to start contributing to other projects rather than diving into a project of your own. You can also find projects on the main page of h2g2 by just clicking the topics for discussion. Once you have something ready for submission you submit it at peer review and you get a sub-editor who edits your entry so it flows with the site.

There are also a great many 'social groups' on h2g2. Some are based on geography (ie- I'm a member of the NorthEastern US Researchers Group) and some are either serious or silly (the silly ones can be quite fun). A couple of the silly ones are the Thingites, the ship 'The Blood of the Zaphodistas', the Dog/Cat war, etc. There are links to a few of these on my page so if you click on my name you can see a bit about them.

The site doesn't define how you contribute. You can contribute by researching and writing guide entries, volunteering (ACEs, GURU's, Sub-Editors, etc.) and/or socializing. Or you can just ghost. As long as you stay within the house rules you can do pretty much anything. This can be hard if you're trying to fit within a defined area, so the only thing I can suggest is to define how you best want to use your researcher status.

Did I confuse you enough or should I try explaining why it is that NYC air is actually good for you because of extra mineral content?

Well thanks for all your answers, not that I am much clearer. I think I am too serious for this site, especially as you all have such weird names. When I first read about it, it said it was nothing to do with the Hitch Hikers Guide which I could never be bothered with so never saw or read anything about it. Guess thsat lets me out. I shall have to stick to the ordinary web pages I think, as all my stuff has been serious, and not a reply or comment, or don't people do that here. Thanks anyway. Marj

There are plenty of serious people here. Researchers who are serious and professional people. Just because some places tend to lean toward cutting up doesn't make the researchers who join in any less knowledgeable. Perhaps you should look toward the subjects you are interested in and see who has written guide entries that match those interests. Do you need help searching?

Thanks Battye A.C.E what on earth is the ace, yes I do need help to find out how to read what people are saying. You say there are a lot of proffessional people on here but where and how do I find them. I am mainly interested in Writing and Poetry and have had things published but I am no way a prof. As soon as I see all the weird names it puts me off, I should have called myself something else, not just plain Marj. Cheers.

The names seem to change as we go on in h2g2. The nickname Batty came from a group I was involved in years ago and just sort of stuck. Or as I say "I've been Batty for years now." The 'titles' come from various silly social groups on the site.

An ACE is an Assistant Community Editor (we greet and help people get used to the site). There are also Gurus (help with technical issues) and Sub-Editors (edit other peoples entries for the guide, something you may be interested in later).

I'll find a few links on writing and poetry for you and post them here. Have you scanned through the various sections (Life, The Universe and Everything) to see if any of the topics interest you?

Once you find a topic you can enjoy you simply click one of the discussions below to discuss it or click the "discuss" button to start your own topic underneath. You get a quicker response if you join a discussion in progress though.

Once you're in the discussion the little red dots tell you how many pages there are and you simply scroll down through it to read. If the forum is particularly large you may skip the bulk of the backlog by clicking the last dot, however I recommend you at least read the last couple of pages to get the hang of the discussion.

Hope this helps! I'll be back with a few links. You may also want to try your own searches of the site by using the search engine at the top of the page or using the 'Advanced Search' link.

Try these to start with..

The first few come from a basic search using Poetry and Writing as keywords:

On Writing in h2g2: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A148169

Poetry (two entries):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A155855
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A471610

This comes from browsing through the Life area of h2g2. This is where most of your writing and such will be, along with other things to do with life in general. The Universe is primarily travel and such and Everything is pretty much everything else.

Books & Literature (from Life):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/C66
with various sub-topics

Hope these help. If when you're ready to write an entry you need help getting started (house rules, peer review, etc.) let me know.