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

Welcome to h2g2 I'm deackie and I'm one of the ACEs (assistant community editors), the merry band of volunteers who meet and greet new researchers and offer any help if it's needed.

I've just popped round with a nice hot pot of and a plate of s to see how you are settling in. h2g2 can seem a little overwhelming at first so my advice is to have a look around to get a feel of the place and join in some conversations to meet people. If you are wondering where to start exploring, The H2G2 Post (h2g2's own surperb newspaper) has a page of useful and interesting links at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A616718 Another good way to get a feel of the community is to look at other researchers' personal spaces. If you click on the 'Who's Online' button you can click on any of the researchers' names and visit their space.

Smileys are a way to brighten up postings and guide entries. The smiley list can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Smiley or you can click on any smiley and it will take you to its code

If you need any help feel free to ask. You can either reply to this posting by clicking on the reply button below or visit my personal space by clicking on my name at the top of this posting. I'm usually around quaffing

Oh, and your introduction is fine They're always difficult to write, aren't they. It took me ages to write mine and I'm still not happy with it. I'm sure you'll soon find plenty to talk about.

deackie

cheers, you couldnt just read through my guide i wrote bout action films?

It's great you've jumped straight into writing. I was so nervous about doing it that I didn't write any entries until I'd been here a year! As an entry it's great but if you want to have it included in the edited guide, it would probably not get in as it stands. Please don't take what I say as gospel as I'm by no means an expert on entry writing, but the advice is to write edited entries in the third person not the first as you have done. Very rarely do entries using 'I' or 'we' get accepted for the guide. If you want to hear people's suggestions then you could enter your entry into the writing workshop. The URL is http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Writing-Workshop If you go there the instructions on the page will tell you what to do. As with everything, the instructions are just the opinions of other researchers, not an official line and you can feel free to pick and choose which advice you choose to take. Let me know when you've done this and I'll come over and make some more comments

How are you finding h2g2 so far?

this may sound stupid but whats the difference between 1st person and 3rd person?
h2g2 is a bit full on if you get what i mean. I mean it's good, because you may want to research about something, but it can get a bit confusing.

Not a silly question at all. First person is writing things like "I think fight scenes are unconvincing" or "we don't always appreciate action movies". Writing in the third person would change those sentences to: "Fight scenes can seem unconvincing" and "action movies are not always appreciated". Essentially they still mean the same thing, the grammar is just slightly different.

h2g2 is rather large and confusing at first, but trust me, it does get easier It also feels like everyone else knows each other and knows what to do, but almost everyone starts off feeling overwhelmed by this place and you'll find there are lots of other new researchers at the moment who feel just like you do. Have you had a look at any of the conversations that people use just for general, silly chat? They are a good way to get to know people and learn about the site. h2g2 isn't just about writing and reading entries. http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A616718 This links to a list of clubs and societies, see if there's anything that interests you.

I read your journal entry too. Don't worry about mock exam results. I think teachers mark more harshly than the actual examiners because they want to push you into trying even harder for the real exams. That's also why they give you such a long list of things to improve. It would probably help if they also told you what you'd done right but they forget that bit! When I was a school, I did badly in my mocks but I did just fine in my GCSEs.

I hope it goes OK when you tell your parents and I hope you have a better day at school today. Here's a to make you feel better, whatever the day's been like

yea i guess it was better, and it'll keep gettin better rite? my parents will find out on parents evenin i aint tellin them. i'll have a look at the clubs and societies. yea i got a very long list for what to revise for in chemistry and i dont think i done that bad in it. anyway thanks for the tips.

I can't guarantee school will get better but I can say that you'll look back in a few years and think it was OK really As for all the work you've got to do, I can empathise with that. I've got deadlines on Monday but I just can't get my essays written. I think the only difference as you get older is that no-one breathes down your neck telling you what you should do. Do you go to parents' evening with your parents? Do you think they'll take it better if you warn them first or is it better to let the teachers explain?

nah i'll tell em, when i get all my grades on my card.

I'm a bit poorly at the moment i ate something dodgey.

That's miserable. I think I drank something dodgy - oh no, it was this lunchtime I've managed to get all my work handed in on time so a group of us went out to celebrate

i've been diagonised, ive got gastroenteritis. which is pretty cool because ive never had it before.

It's always good to try something new

Sounds pretty miserable though. Do you get much time of school for it?

yea i wish. no i just have to cope with my stomach aches.

That's even worse. If you've got to be ill you should at least get a week of school. Do you get any sympathy either?

well kinda. I just had parents evening and it went very well apart from one and two. Before parents evening we went to this bbc gcse poets live show in the national theatre and was good so i've had a good day today. what about you?

I'm pleased to hear parents' evening was OK What was the BBC poets live thing like? I've never heard of that.

I've had an OK week, thanks, and I am very excited because I'm off to the h2g2 meet tomorrow. I am wearing a I'll tell you all about it when I get back and I bet they'll be loads of photos online following.

it was really cool, there were poets from the anthology we study from in english. Although it did get a bit boring at times.

Sounds It must really bring some meaning to the poems you've got to study. Probably makes them more memorable too when it comes to exam time.

I've not long got back from the London meet and it was wonderful. There should be photos appearing on site over the next week and I can't wait although some may make me I didn't manage to win a much coveted h2g2 t-shirt though so I'm hoping to get one next time. I think there will be another meet in July so I'm going to start saving now!