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

I wasn't sure where to post this, whether any of the feedback fora would be appropriate, so i decided to suggest it to you here, and see what you think. Briefly, there is something on collective that i think h2g2 could benefit from following. In the posting box on collective, there is now a "hints and tips" list on the right hand side, basically a set of guidelines for clear communication. The list is this: =================================================================== "*if you are addressing a particular person try using their name, eg, "Hi Rowan" *be friendly and avoid being dismissive - remember it's easy for others to take text the wrong way *use smileys to indicate tone but don't overuse them as they become meaningless *see our Smileys Page for how to use them *keep your comment short and to the point - long posts are hard to reply to *leave text-speak for mobile phones *if you want to include a link begin it with "http://" *avoid using all capital letters - it appears as if you're shouting" ===================================================================== Now, it occurred to me that h2g2 has no such list when one makes the post. yes, there is a link to "how to make a conversation posting", but even following that there doesn't seem to be anything that sets out in a similar way to this collective "hints and tips" section what the conventions of the site are. Now, most of the tips might seem pretty self-explanatory to those mopf us whoo've been here a while, but I think it could help new users settle into the site better,a nd it coulsd avoid controversy and debate brought about by clumsy communication on site- the reminder to make reference to people by name when you are addressing them is a very good idea- sometimes people will respond to a posting which is not the most recent, and their reply will seem to make little snse and is open to misinterpretation. I also think the warning to people that capital letters are considered equivalent to shouting is a good pointer to people. To be honest, the only one of the collective guidelines that i don't think h2g2 could benefit from including in it's own posting boxes is the one about long postings- many conversations do necesitate lengthy postings, and that one might be deemed inappropriate. The rest, however, I think could improve the communication levels of this site, and I do include the prevalence of "text speaK" in that. As I believe you pointed out ina discussion of foreign language moderatiion recently, the use exclusively of English means that everyone on the site can understand other postings. The use of text speak sems contrary to that, as a number of people cannot understand it, and I would question whether it can really be considered English, as it doesn't really resemble written English. So basically, what I am trying, in my own roundabout way, to ask, is: Is there any chance of "posting guidelines", such as those on collective, being included in a similar way on h2g2? Egon.

*nods in agreement*

I don't want to again get into a situation where their are two disticnt groups of people using h2g2.

I welcome all new users, but I do want them to intregrate rather than forming their own little cliques. - and this might help newbies intergrate..

I also agree that the posting of guidelines, perhaps right on this cgi screen under the Terms of Use reminder, would be useful for newcomers. Several non-English speakers at the atelier have complained that they can't undertsand text speak or, for that matter, researchers who habitually post in highly idiosyncratic speech forms.

People like me! A FinnoSwede to whom English is a foreign language!

I support Egon's suggestion - some of the people who sign up as researchers aren't only new to h2g2, but also new to the whole Internet thingy, or even new to communicating in other ways than chat room speak

Hello all,

Thanks very much for your comments. We think the Collective redesign is fab and were discussing it in the office yesterday; particularly the hints and tips box you mention.

We really would like to have something of this type on h2g2, but since it's a technical rather than an editorial change then even a limited version of it is something that would have to be added to the feature suggestions list or even to the list of changes we'd like to put in place were we to develop a new skin for the site.

So - I'm afraid it's not going to happen imminently, but when the next round of development occurs, it's definitely going to be in there!

Natalie

That's very Natile!!! And we didn't even have to offer bribes..

So is this on the list, or should we submit it to the relevent list? Somewhere.

Given the fact that the staffing of h2g2 seems to be somewhat shrunk, are we realistically going to be able to expect another round of developement?

I'm delighted to ehar it's being considered

Well, regarding the 'next round of development' I'm afraid you know as much as we do! All I can say is we really would like this. And we like their shiny new skin as well!

So buying the appropriate people drinks at the summer meet won't help?

Oh well you could have got yourself a by telling me that it's not up to you in July!

Any progress on this Natalie?

Hello Ferrettbadger,

Not yet, I'm afraid - in three years on the site I can honestly say I've never known things as busy in here as they are now, so this sort of development is on quite a long list. When we get the chance, though, it's something we really would like to implement!

Sorry I don't have much to report on this front!



Natalie

That is no problem. To be fair the "problem" of "txtspk" use does not seem to be quite as pronounced as it was back along. This feature still would be nice though!

Hope you get through all the busy workload!