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

Oh FT,


I'm really sorry to burst your bubble but this is not a good thing.

I don't know anything for sure .... but I'll make a few guesses and you can decide if there's any worth in them.

The only folks that work on the site for the beeb are The Eds - and they have spoken on your entry - they will not debate or discuss it further they've said their bit and that is the end of it as far as they're concerned.

Aces are unlikely to be interested but Scouts will have discussed it in their forum and probably agreed to a man that it's unsuitable (some of them may even have read it) and that is their stance so even if you were to produce the most eloquent re-write it will not be selected by a Scout - so why bother?

Finally, the yikes and subsequent moderation - not a good thing at all. What I believe will happen is that the entry is gone for good. Someone who has been in discussion - or following the discussion about the entry has decided to press the yikes button ..... my guess is that they're going to say you have infringed copywrite - probably by quoting too much of the book - or some such thing and that'll be that.

I'm sorry but when it gets to this point you really are flogging a dead horse. It's the easiest option for everyone involved if the entry just disappears - and just on a more practical note - there won't be any more discussion allowed onsite about it so

Hi Fizzy!

Things are progressing, and you may well be right after all. However, I do not go gentle into that good night.

Meanwhile, I have been getting responses; but they haven't made any more sense than those in PR. The eds claim that they did not even know that the entry had been hidden!?

So, things are getting muddier rather than clearer!

and

Oh the Eds probably didn't know it's been hidden - that implies someone yikes'd it in which case it will automatically be hidden by the BBC Moderators - who don't know our site very well. They are supposed to bring it to the attention of our Eds the next working day - for a decision as to whether it stays hidden or not..... if it stays hidden the message on the entry page will change from .... This entry has been hidden temporarily to This entry had been removed because ..... (or words to that effect).

It appears that our Eds have been *away* very busy somewhere and only returned late last week and your entry is probably at the end of a very long list of catch-ups they've got.


I think they said somewhere that they're glad you're doing a re-write so that is a positive thing and implies that the topic isn't automatically out of bounds.

Good news! Just in case you hadn't noticed, the entry is back and untouched.

Perhaps this is a good sign after all?

Well, it was a good sign that it had been yikes'd and not pulled by the beeb so there's still hope.


I hope you have settled down again after all the excitement and high emotion then you can come back to it afresh.