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

Hi there,

I posted what I think in PR but just came round to extend my sympathies. I think you're banging your head against a brick wall. They aren't reviewing what you wrote so much as what they think you wrote.

I've always liked PR and believed the point was to make the submission the best possible entry it could be by helping the author. I can see that you've had little by the way of help and a lot of I don't think this is for the EG type stuff. I don't think that's up to a scout or a reviewer. Alright, the scouts have to pick an entry for the Eds to decide to include it, but if it meets the criteria (whether they like the subject or not) it should be recommended at some point. I fear this will not happen for your entry - but hey, worse things happen at sea.

Just keep writing and wait for the wind to change - it always does.

Thank you, , for the very sweet and encouraging message!

I have literally had my head banged against a brick wall, so I know what it feels like. This is a very similar sensation! Strangely, though, it was the wall that cracked, not my skull!!

Let's hope my head is as hard as it was when I was younger!

Thanks to you and Shagbark, I may actually be getting some traction. I don't understand the supersensitive types that think questioning is insulting, but I'll try to work through that. We'll see what happens, and whether cooler heads prevail.

Thanks again!

Sweet and encouraging? I thought it was a message of sympathy.


The very reason I no longer write regularly for the EG or even come on site much is Felonious Monk who (with some friends) savaged The Drawer A44720039 - but not in the PR thread attached to it, in other PR threads no less. So in one sense you're lucky that it's all happening in the right place.


I don't know what the EG wants anymore and only rarely submit - if it's not getting any interest after a few weeks I'll just pull it - I'm about to do that with one now. FM and co seem to have the makings of the guide they want with only a certain 'type' of entry and a certain 'style' now acceptable - good luck to them.

The place has become far too elitist for me, I know it's cyclical but just about every thread I read becomes a god/god bashing thread or a who can quote the best scientific research or who has the best qualifications thread and really if you've read one of those you've read them all.

I've lost my appetite for the place but hope you don't - I'm still pretty sure your entry won't be reviewed and won't make the guide but hope you stick with the site and the writing.

Sympathetic it was, but I meant sweet of you to contact me directly, and encouraging to know that I had some corner of support. With these as my sword and shield... (wait, that might be going in a direction a bit more dramatic than suits)

Hey! I LIKED The Drawer, and was happy to see it make it through EG!

If you're getting ready to drop one, I'm hoping it's not 'The No-Eyed Big-Eyed Wolf Spider'

BTW:
[spider(Adelocosa anops)] missing a space

And a footnote has Hollywood spelled with only one 'l'.

After writing and reading a bit I forgot to pull the spider.
Now that you have pointed out a couple of errors I'll have to fix them and leave it for another two weeks. Now see what you've done.

A few people liked the drawer but apparently it didn't meet the standards of the 'new, improved' guide - at least not the guide envisaged by FM et al. I think they're the sort of people that know what they like to read but don't know what other people like to read - and therein lies the problem.

We all have very personal tastes when it comes to reading and I know I've seen loads of stuff on the FP that I've read and thought ... why, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be in the guide. Those same entries have some readers that think .... cool, why didn't I think of that, what a great read.

One man's meat and all that.

I think I'll hang around and see what the re-vamp means in real terms then decide if there's still room for a fizzy.

BTW I've heard that for a site that is keen to remove itself from DNA and all things related to him and his work, they are inviting friends of DNA to submit their writing ..... now doesn't that seem a bit disingenuous. I'd have thought that was the last thing to do to create distance.

with the entry and I hope a new week brings new challenges.

In the words of the inimitable Maxwell Smart, 'Sorry about that, Fizzy'!

Am I mistaken? When I visited 'The Drawer', I could swear that it was in the EG? Is it? If it is, did you not know?

Disingenuous is the kindest word I can think of for it! I spotted and error in one of TR's entries that is in PR. While tactfully pointing it out, I also pointed out that his first paragraph included opinion, something he lambasted me for on the 'question' entry. (Yet, I still don't see any 'opinion' in mine)

Let's see if he removes the opinion!

So, just to be clear, who is it who is doing the inviting? Do you know to whom they've extended these invites?

I hope that fizzy sticks around; but, if you choose to leave, let me know and perhaps we can jump at the same time.

Meanwhile, I've posted a request for the Eds to check out the entry, without first reading the vitriol in PR, to get a level-set on whether I'm off base. So far, the response has been very positive, but I haven't yet seen a word from H2G2 Editors. We'll see!

Oh I re-submitted the drawer on my return because I could see no reason not to - it was what I intended it to be and it did get into the guide but had it been up to the above-mentioned it wouldn't have - he hated it with a passion way beyond the rational.

PR sort of implies all comments should be dealt with equally as they are made by our peers - I don't think that fella reckons he has any peers onsite (possibly in RL) so good luck in getting the opinion fixed.

As far as I know it's TPTB that are inviting S. Fry no less, among others .... playing on their connection to DNA and trying to distance the site from him - I don't know how that works.

I hope you hear from the Eds - if the guide can have 'how to' entries on other things it would seem very petty if they decided you couldn't 'how to' a debate on the question.

Glad I'm not going !

Wow, Astounding news on S. Frye! Who's next, H. Laurie?!

Hey, in my Conversations, I've raised a small dialogue with Gnomon, and Icy North had some advice!

I may be creating a new version of the entry on my PS. If I do, I wonder if you'd be willing to review it against the outline he suggested and his suggestions which mirror yours in some areas.

If you and he get through it, and I can bring Gnomon back in, it may make getting it through PR a whole lot easier!!

What do you think? Got the time and patience? (And, of course, the interest?)

Well I couldn't be more pleased of course I'll read it but more importantly Gnomon and Icy will - and a few others I suspect.

The bad news is that you are in fact crazy ...... you're just like the rest of the crazies and don't know it Anyone who cares enough to perservere through all that and still want to submit has to be crazy.

I'm begining to wonder about my own sanity too since I've started work on another guide entry .... crazy is as crazy does.

I'll go to work happy now and look forward to reading your new and improved UQ within DNAs universe debating framework (or possibly more pithily titled work).

I'm not sure pithily is a word .... but it's nice to say because it sounds like a speech impediment.

Thanks, and Great News!

Happy to have all the people in my corner, plus extras!

Hope you have a great day, doing... that... thing... you do...

Have a great day!




PS: Ya know, you're right!? Pithily is fun to say! Who cares if it's a word; they all have to get their start somewhere, eh?

Well looks like it's a done deal now.


it's ended so badly but tomorrow is another day and I'm sure you've plenty more to tell us.

Hi Fizzy!

It's no problem, but is this the message you really meant to leave here? Seems like a change of subject!?

I was reacting to the Eds decision to your entry ..... computer says no!!

Sometimes I can lurk from w*rk .. when we're not too busy. Yesterday I actually posted from work. I did an entry some time ago about the Hollywood Sign and had hoped someone would update it since Hugh Hefner has saved it again .... I posted to the entry itself but no response. I admit I was a little disappointed the bbc main page had a great banner about the sign - but no link to the entry on h2g2 - I think there are loads of entries that get passed by like that by Auntie Beeb. The Eds want the site promoted but the Beeb does nothing to promote it.

Anyhoo, are you going to attempt a total re-write and try again or are you going to call it a day?

Thanks for clearing that up!

Posting from work? I remember when I had a job like that

Truly, I'll try another re-write. I'll do it this weekend, and keep it on my PS until I've received a final determination from the Ed; but I'll name it 'Replacement' so that you all can find it.

If it proves markedly better, I'll swap them out in PR and see where it goes.

I really am open to suggestions of other places in the guide it might be a better fit, but the EG was the one place I was certain that it would carry the necessary weight for those who chose to call on it. [As in, "The EG entry on the question clearly indicates that the question can't be 'Why did the chicken cross the road?', because it fails the test of having Forty-Two as a reasonable answer, and it wouldn't answer the other many and varied philosophical questions, including 'Does it really matter, cosmically speaking, whether or not I go to work tomorrow morning?'!"]

Well I don't often post from w*rk because we're generally way too busy and the way my computer is behaving at the moment it can be difficult to post from home.

I'm glad you'll give it another go but I think if anyone's looking for the rules of the debate they'll find them in a search anyway EG or not. I'll watch out for it though.

HI, !

I'm reluctant to say this where others may , but I'm very close to just erasing everything on my PR that I have access to, and renouncing the whole site as a great concept gone rancid.

I can't do much about the entries already in EG or UG status, but I feel that the trend is such that I will not want to be further associated with a site gone so far from its original purpose.

The true Eds (of which there may be only one, for all I know) have apparently abdicated their power to the very sect of which you spoke. That being the case, there would not be any reason for me to stick around, or even consider returning for the next few years (at which time, I'd expect to find the site gone the way of the suicidal lemming - which never actually existed).

If I do decide to do so, I'll endeavor to come by to say goodbye first. One of my minor consolations is that none of Gnomon's pictures, that included me, made it to his gallery.

Oh FT, I'm very sorry to hear this.

I have left of course and came back - but I'm not entirely the same as before. I used to do a lot onsite, writing, aceing, scouting, filled loads of time. Now I just drift in and out as suits me. Don't write much and if they don't like it I just pull it.

There seems little point in 'debating' stuff onsite as I find that if you don't agree you're basically shouted down. This has been the case for years - you maybe haven't met it much - I try to avoid it

I hope you reconsider and I hope that the site starts to appreciate the people they have here that want to write - much point in trying to get new writers in when they can't keep them - they can't keep those that they have onsite.

Hi FM!

No worries about me leaving just yet. I had someone chime in that they stopped reading the entry near the beginning, getting lost in the big words.

That was like a splash of cold water, and I looked at the entry with fresh eyes. Nobody else had mentioned having a problem with the vocabulary, but I felt that just maybe the general tone was part of the problem, and that the words I chose added to it.

I did a complete re-write of the body of the entry, and changed the title a bit. I've not given up.

Funny you should mention being shouted down. I've had a bit of that, but I keep a civil tongue, give rational arguments, and just tire them out!

They may shout, but they get exhausted and move on.

You mentioned your one-time deeper involvement. Perhaps you can tell me how I know when I'm speaking to someone with actual BBC authority, and when I'm just sparring with an ace, scout, or the like?

I've asked for an unbiased review and a reason why the entry should not get through PR. Nobody has pointed out any flaw or broken guideline, so all I'm doing is deflecting opinions on whether the subject is appropriate, which is not something that has been quantified or codified.

The first response was 'Other entries on the subject didn't make it to the EG.' which is a completely spurious response. Of course they didn't; but always for a reason. I want a good, rules-driven reason why MY entry shouldn't be included.

Hey! My entry has been 'hidden'!

It's apparently scheduled to undergo 'moderation'!

I'm seeing this as a positive thing.