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

Hi Mimi & MJ

In case you haven't seen all the stuff on the other threads here and chez MJ, it seems all our discussions, including the original 'Room With a Hue' have been wiped. This is by way of checking whether I can post to my own 'messages' after writing a new intro.

H

Here's what I posted last night in reply to your last, Mimi - just in case you didn't see it before the content got removed.

Good evening Mimi & MJ

It’s good to hear from you at any time – no obligation!! I’m glad your mum is looking well, Mimi. Is sis back from her travels yet?

I had half an ear on WoM this afternoon. I must say I prefer it rather less chatty and fragmented. I didn’t like the ‘jail talk ’ feature very much; it just seemed to be a lot of slang words from arbitrarily selected prisons with no real attempt to impose any structure. I did hear the ‘anthem’ at the end; it struck me as a rather obvious filler and, frankly, I’d rather they lifted more stuff off the messageboard than use stuff like that. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh. Like I said, I wasn’t really concentrating; but I’m not tempted to ‘Listen Again’.

Did you see the match? A good result for Man Utd to go with good results for the other British clubs. Excellent goal, I thought, though Saha was given rather too much space to shoot. Let’s hope Liverpool keep it up tomorrow against Galatasaray. That game’s at Anfield but I wonder if you remember the last time the two teams met in Istanbul. The Turks unfurled their famous ‘Welcome to Hell” banner but the Scousers had come come prepared with one of their own that read “If you think this is Hell you should try the Grafton on a Saturday Night”. Brilliant stuff!!

Bye for now

H

Hi H,
what a mess they've made of these h2g2 pages. Hope Mimi's not too upset - everything's gone on her page BUT I've inadvertently stumbled across her h2g2 postings list here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/radio4/MP2364101

But of course that might not work tomorrow - or even in a minute! Anyway, if you do find this thread Mimi, hello, and I do hope you can restore your nice Intro - especially since you'd ony just refurbished it!

MJ

Hi MJ,

Have just discovered what's happened to my page and, yes, I was a bit upset! I'm over it now though.

Thanks for putting in that link ... never knew that existed, it's a bit of a maze in the world of h2g2.

I will get around to re-doing my intro (hopefully later on tonight). Of course your very helpful instructions for the flashing lights have disappeared, I'll try to remember them. It will be evident whether I have or not!!

Love,
Mimi

Mimi! How nice to see you here! The place appeared to be very quiet and i wasn't going to linger long. If it's any help I can copy and paste my GuideML bits here again since, for no apparent reason, my Intro's still here. I'm still !!!

MJ
xx

<smiley type="disco"/><smiley type="disco"/><smiley type="disco"/>Hi ! <smiley type="disco"/><smiley type="disco"/><smiley type="disco"/>


This is to start of my intro if it's any help. Achilles is also very cross as his is lost and he had helpful info on it re his and jont's Scripts etc.

MJ (through gritted teeth!)

Thanks, MJ - these things are sent to try us!
I WILL get my into re-done but I've got loads to do today, have just had a splurge on WoM (including a message on your thread!) but will aim to do it later on. Commiserations to Achilles as well, if you're speaking to him - I would be hopping mad if I'd lost as much as he has!

'Bye for now,
Mimi

So would he.

Good evening Mimi. MJ, Andy, Achilles and anyone reading this

I'm just back from Paris and have a couple of days to get ready for Dallas. I see you've found the other threads, Mimi, and you seem to have two links under my 'Friends'! I didn't know which of the new threads to pick, so I chose this because 3 of you will have a link to it under your 'messages'. I'm sure MJ can tell Andy in the unlikely event he doesn't stumble across it.

How are you all getting along since Thursday? I'm fully aware of the limitations of my technical knowledge, but some of the explanations as to what has happened are just nonsense, aren't they? I see Mimi's intro still hasn't been re-written, but her 'conversation', 'messages' & 'friends' lists seem to have been reinstated. When I last looked on Thursday night her page was pretty much dead. Of Mimi's friends, both 'Douglas' and 'special someone' seem to have had their old intros restored - and these are two who almost certainly haven't been to their pages in ages. Both their 'messages' lists are empty, though. Was there ever anything them?

Has anyone worked out how to get to the 'archive' yet? I have some of the drafts of my messages but no copies of anyone else's. And the drafts aren't a reliable record, anyway, as I often do last-minute editing on site without amending the drafts.

Must go now. I'll let you know about my Paris trip when we work out which thread to use.

back later

H

Posted: Wednesday 04 October 2006 18:32:57 there's a bit more about what they were trying to do by deleting all those personal spaces here http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/F77636?thread=3534297 not sure it makes any more sense

Posted: Wednesday 04 October 2006 18:40:21

PS I notice H has had a welcome from an ACE, so he's a proper h2g2 person now

Well I think it does - we've manipulated the URL to create fake Personal Spaces! Makes us sound like criminals. Yet I'm pretty sure one of the messageboard hosts mentioned h2g2 some time ago as a place we could use.I don't know if I should join h2g2 now or not since I still have my Intro - what exactly are the benefits I should envy you real h2g2 people for having?

Posted: Wednesday 04 October 2006 21:06:49

Hi MJ, I remember you telling people how to change the URL so that they could get into h2g2! So it's you who is the guilty one, 10 years solitary on the 606 MB for you!

Good evening all

Can I now feel superior to all you phoney h2g2 members?

Seriously, though, it still doesn’t make sense. All I’ve done is rewrite my intro. I haven’t registered again. And according to some posts on the ‘Community Soapbox’ thread, the fact that I could post there means I was already registered with h2g2. I remember when I first used this page I had to fill in something, just as I did when I first went to the Radio 3 boards (my original registration was with Radio 4). What was that, then? Maybe that made me an h2g2 member but it didn’t stop them wiping all my messages last week.

As MJ points out, it’s a bit embarrassing as we’re not here to flout the rules. Most of us started using these pages to avoid going off-topic on the Radio 4 boards. I don’t know what’s required of a ‘researcher’ in this community – it sounds rather grand to me. I must look into it when I get back from Dallas.

I’m just watching the Liverpool v Celtic veteran’s match as I type. 2-2 so far, and quite entertaining.

Back later

H

Have mercy on me! Actually it was the adorable Achilles who lured me into h2g2...and I really find it hard to believe he's the scheming criminal he must therefore be...and not such a clever one either since he's lost his own Intro!

Good evening all

I just popped in to say I won't be around for a while. I'm just packing for my trip to Dallas now. I might have time to look in before I leave in the morning, otherwise I'll be back on the 18th. Let's hope the boards are still here then!

H

HUMPF!

I joined up to hootoo (as Uncle Fred) a while ago. Then later as Achilles. As far as I was aware, the two processes were the same. But Uncle Fred's (short) intro survived, while Achilles's did not.

From my point of view, we all signed up in good faith and used the facilities that the BBC appeared to have placed at our disposal for our use. Then these are removed, without warning, never mind consultation; and the line appears to be "you shouldn't have had them and you can't have them back. And we don't have the resources etc etc"

Piffle. It is obvious that we can still have them -- Achilles has a new, truncated introduction, and we can have this conversation -- so it's incredible to think that we should not have had them and "the loophole is closed".

As you will have guessed, I'm rather cross about this. If the BBC needs to act for some reason, even if it's the never-believed "we don't have the resources", then that's fair enough, it's their message board. BUT to do so without warning, discussion, or hope of redress is just plain rude.

Best wishes
Achilles

That's what I was thinking, Achilles, but I lack sufficient technical knowledge to be as confident of my facts as you evidently are. I still don't buy the 'closing the loophole' explanation. The loophole, if such it be, is still there; they've just made us all re-open it. I'm not sure about rudeness - incompetence is just as likely an explanation - but it's certainly a nuisance to lose all those posts.

goodnight all

H

I think that making changes to the boards which result in people losing material that they have entered in good faith, and then making no attempt or suggestion of restoring it, and all but accusing them of
being norty children is rude.

Moreover I posted to the discussion thread, asking for my space back, and my post had disappeared without trace.

YMMV.

Best wishes
Achilles

Evening all

I'm back. Actually I got back yesterday. I was warned against jetlag (it was my first long haul trip); that didn't materialise, unless I'm due a late surprise, but severe worklag has kept me away from the boards until now.

I enjoyed visiting my brother and his wife but as for Texas itself I wasn't favourably impressed. Public transport is almost non-existent and the roads are a nightmare - a blot on the landscape and seriously dangerous to drive on. We went to the Kennedy Museum in the Book Depository and to the Holocaust Museum (what Dallas has to do with the holocaust I don't know). At Fort Worth we went to the Civil War Museum (very badly researched; not a mention of Cromwell or Charles I) and the Log Cabin Village (which was the highlight of the trip for me).

MJ would have liked the concert by the Irving Symphony Orchestra that we attended: all Beethoven - Egmont, Pastoral Symphony & Triple Concerto. The orchestra was quite impressive given that I estimated the average age at about 24; and the Irving Arts Centre was very well-appointed. I was pleasantly surprised at the behaviour of the audience; no chatting during the performance and no premature applause. From listening to friends' accounts and to the NY Met relays I'd formed the impression that such annoying behaviour was widespread in the USA; but, it seems, not in Texas.

back later

H