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

Those emails we got have caused a terrible amount of confusion.
I've only just read yet another post from somebody who is worried that people won't get their account transferred if they do not click on the link on that email because they never got the email in the first place.

Furthermore, it says in that post that it is unclear which account the email address is linked to, and that you'll probably only get your main account transferred.

They really messed that up and made it worse with the second email they sent.

So, to summarize:

Your (encrypted) email address will be given to the new site owners if you DO NOT DO anything at all. Simple.


>>If you choose to register with the new H2G2 website and you enter the email address we have used here, this will enable the new owners to link your BBC user ID with your username and your email address.<<

So, it does not matter whether or not you remember which email address is related to which account (if you have more than one account).

If you can still access your accounts, you can check in your settings which email address is linked to which account.

If you find one of your accessible accounts is linked to an email address that NO LONGER WORKS/EXISTS go and change it to w working email address - IMMEDIATELY. Make sure you give different email addresses for different accounts, though.

lil, you can put the link to here if you reply jimc.

Great, Bel.

You get the prize for being the first Hootooer to express this important information in ENGLISH.

Thank you for this service. (And the rest of you, be ashamed.)

Thank you.

I honestly didn't quite understand what was so complicated until I found all the threads about the second email. Since I had a guest when it arrived, I only read the first few sentences telling me that only 10% of people ahd got the first email. As I belonged to those 10%, I didn't actually bother to read the rest.

I only owndered just how they knew how many per cent of users got an email. Can they look into my email account?

That question actually puzzled me a lot more than the cryptic message that followed in the part of the email which I didn't even read at first.

It actually said that they knew that only 10% of people had *opened* the email.

That bothered me...what are they, the Department of Homeland Security?

Thanks, Bel. I see you've already put the link up for JimC

Yes, Dmitri, you are right, of course, they spoke about people who had opened the email. Which is even more scary than if they had assumed only ten per cent got the email. I never confirmed its receipt or anything, so just how did they know I opened them?

Yes, lil, I thought I could just as well do it myself in case you weren't online.

This raises visions of spyware that I don't want to think about.

Hopefully Jim might have seen it before he left the library

If you put a small picture in your e-mail, then when the person opens the e-mail, their computer contacts your computer to get the picture. This means you can track who has opened your e-mail.

Many spammers use this to keep track of which e-mail addresses they send to are actually being used.

Many e-mail programs now don't open the pictures until you tell them to. On my compuer, I get a box in the e-mail which says "Click here to download picture" instead of seeing the picture directly. Only if I click on the box does my browser contact the sender's computer and download the picture, revealing my presence to them.

But I don't remember seeing any box or picture in the BBC e-mail.

Maybe somebody will call and tell him.

Btw, I actually think there is nothing really sinister about the 10% assumption. I guess that some clever statistician/analyst told them that out of -say- ten people one will click on the link and opt out.
So if they sent 170,000 emails, it would mean that 17,000 people should have clicked on that link. However, they don't know hootizens. Probably only 1,700 people clicked that link, so they assumed that only 10% only read their emails. (I hope my maths are right here. )

Good point, Gnomon. My email blocks images unless I tell it to open them. And I didn't know why.

Now I do. Thanks.

Oh, Gnomon, how clever! I didn't tell my email to 'show the logo'! I couldn't see why I should do so because it didn't add anything to the information.

In a blue bar above the email mine said:

Images are not displayed.
Display images below - Always display images from [email protected]

followed by

BBC logo

in the body of the email. So *that's* where they went wrong!

There was a small BBC logo in the mail. Like Gnomon, I don't automatically download graphics.

Jimcracker said, "thank you and I'm on the outside looking in and I have read the reply, the reason why Katrine aka The Thinker is putting on this message for me is that at the moment there is no access at the public library except for the 15 minute computers which have been hogged by the kids who are only holiday. The main computers are all down at the moment due to reorganisation because of the cuts and they are closing down at least one floor and have dismantled all the computers. The only decent cyber shop closed about two months ago, so for the time being, I can reply through The Thinker and if anyone who wants to get in touch with me, they only you can do it is by active email on my personal space or by leaving a message on a thread at the moment I am just a lurker .Jim

Greetings to Jimcracker, and condolences on uncooperative facilities. I hope it gets better soon!

I think it should be made clear that you remain registered with the BBC. H2g2 is moving to a new site and you will have to register with that.

That is the point at which the new h2g2 server contacts the BBC to recover all your data and reconstruct your h2g2 space as it was before, so registering is kept as simple as possible.

Perhaps people are thinking that their accounts, lock stock and barrel, will be moving with h2g2, which is not quite the case. A little of your soul remains on bbc.co.uk. A horcrux, so to speak.

Seen from that angle, it is nice of the BBC to inform us what will happen once we are no longer their problem.

I think once we've moved, I'll cancel my account with the Beeb. I wouldn't know what I'd need it for.