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

... and welcome to h2g2.

I'm one of the <./>ACEs</.> (Assistant Community Editors). We are a team of volunteers who try to help new researchers for the guide find their way around. You can click on the link I made with that acronym in order to find out more. To find out more about anyone, click on the link made by their nickname (eg at the top of any conversation postings) to go to their personal space. Lurking is quite acceptable on h2g2.

The first thing I need to tell you is to avoid typing in all capitals if you can. It is generally considered to be shouting and upsets some people round here. I don't mind but if you want the best possible reaction from everyone else on the site you should try to use lower or mixed case. It did make me wonder whether you were a former LD user on a digibox though. If so and you are still using a digibox to access h2g2, you may find the site works better in plain skin. Otherwise the box tends to run out of memory displaying all the graphics. Here is a link to let you select plain skin in your Preferences: <./>/dna/h2g2/plain/UserDetails</.>.

Also along those lines, there are some places on h2g2 which are especially for LDers. U201567 "The Friends Of LeisureDistrict" has a lot of links. A814303 is a list of LDers to look at or join. You might find some old friends. A913150 "The FoLDers Arms" is a virtual bar where LDers go to socialise when they are online. A909010 is the LDers' quotes section. I couldn't possibly comment but you might want to.

One thing h2g2 has a lot of, as well as researchers from all over the world, is these <./>Smileys</.>. You can use them in your personal space and other articles, conversations and journal entries. You just type the shortcut text and they appear as if by magic on preview or posting. For example: < rose > without the spaces becomes

Here are a few more links you might like to try. A660340 is a list of "Clubs and Societies" on h2g2. <./>Askh2g2</.> and <./>MiscChat</.> are good places to start or join a random conversation. You could use the infinite improbability drive on the "Front Page" if you don't know where you want to go or <./>search</.> if you do. See the guide entries too important to be merely a number at <./>NamedEntries</.>.

Above all, have fun and don't panic. If you do find yourself tempted to panic, click the "h2g2 Help" link on the left. It may help.

Now, if you'll excuse me, there are probably other things I should be doing, but I'll be back if you call for help (ie reply to this message).

hiya thanks for yr msg and i do apoligise if i did offend ne1 as i said im new to this and just getting my wareabouts.yea i was on ld and managed to work out wot i was doing this is gonna take some doing thanks for the links of ld i will try them out thanks again for yr help

That's OK, I'm not bothered by the capitals but I thought I'd better warn you before you encountered any of the people on the site who are. That's one of many reasons that h2g2 has a welcoming committee. It is a big site and people often need someone to help them find their way around and how to get the best out of it. I hope you do find some old friends from LD. If you've looked at the statistics on the Front Page, you'll probably have seen that the FoLDers Arms is one of the busiest conversation forums.

hi again ta for letting me know yea im gonna try some of the links once i know wot im doing

I've just noticed that you've been leaving messages on your own space - ie for yourself. That won't get you very far. You need to reply to a post in an existing conversation with someone (as you have done here) or go to their personal space by clicking on their nickname and leave a message for them there. Try some of the links I suggested before and you should see loads of conversation thread titles at the bottom of each page. Clicking on one of those titles will let you see the start of it so you can read all the way through. Clicking on the last posted date/time instead will take you to the end of it (which is usually the best place to reply).

Thanks again i dont think ill get the hang of this y do they have to make it complicated (which i bet it isnt really once u know wot u r doing lol ) im gonna keep trying until i get it lol

That's the spirit - you just keep trying and you'll soon wonder why you ever found it complicated (assuming you even remember that you did)!

As with all these things, you have to build your own internal model or mental image of how it works. This then allows you to make correct guesses on how to do something new. Also, if you do keep using it you are more likely to remember what you have already learned. It's persistence and having the right attitude which counts. If others can do it then so can you.

lol as the saying goes try try and try again lol ive just tried 1 of the ld links just to c wot it is all about if i reply to a msg i just click onto their name isnt it i hope i get the hang of this by the way if u dont mind r u a f or m

If you click on their nickname at the top of the posted message you get taken to their personal space page to find out about them. You can then leave them a new message by clicking on the link near the bottom which says "Leave a message" or "Discuss this entry" or "Start a conversation". The link text for starting a conversation varies a bit depending on which skin you are in and what sort of page it is (personal or guide article).

What you are more likely to be wanting to do (having opened a conversation thread to read it) is to reply to the last item. To do that, you click on the link called "Reply" at the bottom of the posted message, type in your reply and press "Post Message" (or Preview if you did something clever like typing a smiley and wanted to check that it worked before sending the message). You seem to be doing that OK here though.

If you are having trouble with any of the special words or abbreviations we use on h2g2, try reading A632431 (h2 Jargon) or
A901829 (h2g2 Glossary) by clicking on those links.

Oops - I forgot your last cryptic single-letter question. I'm an it!

hiya well it looks like i have a lot of reading to do then im sure i'll get the hang of it eventually

hiya looks like i have a lot of reading to do then im sure ill get there eventually