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

I (foolishly) suggested earlier that we should use the Journal feature on this page to keep a log of the availability of the BBCi messageboards. JR has kindly invited me to get it started. Before I do, I would like your agreement on the process and format. Please reply with any praise or abuse, as you think fit.

Process:

1. Anyone experiencing problems (or the cessation of problems) with BBCi MB services will post a status report in a reply to the message "BBCi MB Status" on this page. These replies will be in a standard format, to aid journal compilation (see below for format).

2. QQ Nights administrators will operate a weekly rota to compile a journal entry from these replies. The journal entry will be posted each Monday, reporting on the previous week's data (Monday to Sunday). Again, there will be a standard format (below).

3. Administrators will need to agree a rota. I would suggest that volunteers post a reply to another message "Journal Rota" on this page.

Formats:

1. BBCi regulars will post the following information in their status reports:

date / time / board(s) / status

Status can be one of the following: "Closed", "Open now", "Hangs indefinitely", "Error Message", "Very Slow", "Corrupt" (e.g. messages/buttons missing)

Example status reports:

Tue 22 / 10:00 / All R4 Boards / Error Message
Sun 27 / 15:00 - 16:00 / QQ Board / Slow

2. Journal entries will collate data on one line for each day, and summarise problems. Each day should be suffixed with an appropriate smiley, e.g. - no problems, - minor problems, - very slow, , , , - bad days.

Example journal entry:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Week: 21 July to 27 July

Mon 21: All R4 boards slow 12:00 - 14:00
Tue 22: QQ & MC-H corrupted 13:00 - 13:30
Wed 23: No problems reported
Thu 24: QQ closed until 11:30, all boards frequently hang
Fri 25: No problems reported
Sat 26: BBCi down all day
Sun 27: No night service from 23:00

Entry compiled by: Icy North

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If you're happy with this, I'll try and get something started in time for next Monday.

Icy

Nice going, Icy, I like it!

Icy. Doc here. I suggest that it be done on a more-or-less daily basis. I think it would attract more interest as current news rather than an archive! Could we start with the QQ info? Not sure that we have resources to solve all board problems. Nice idea for another page maybe. We could do a link to that page here and show QQ board accessibility on this page. Whaddaya reckon?

I have laised with Jack on the premature infant 'Parliament' board A1114354. See link in intro here. He might want to to help since he ain't getting much traffic!

Cheers, Doc (I'll put your function on the list)

Icy. I'll get your email from JR and let you know how admin liaise.

Thanks Doc,

The reasons I suggested compiling it weekly rather than daily are:

It's far less effort on the part of the volunteer journalists
It will look a lot neater, displaying a week-at-a-glance
What is the cut-off deadline for reporting yesterday's status? It is quite feasible that people might want to report their problems in batches. I don't think we would have this problem if we journalled it weekly.

I may be wrong. What do others think?

As to non-QQ boards, well, most of us will post to other boards too, and we will want to report how widespread the problem is. I'd be inclined to include in the journal anything which people take the trouble to tell us about, and see how it goes.

Icy

Starting to sound messy, but I'm pissed out of my brain, best talk to Doc.

Bloody good show, JR!!

Now.... that's what I call Moderating!!



Carry on, old chap - what's your poison?

On me, of course!

"Down the hatch, and in the snat- "

Yours, in fraternal alcoholic haze and numbing stupor, etc,

Ian.

Icy. I think your ideas are fine, but a bit too much for the main QQN page. Maybe you could have a Latest News section at the bottom of the intro (which is editable). The journal is permanent, so it's gonna turn into a white elephant eventually. The more I think about this, the less I like an uneditable section.

What do you think of having a section at the bottom of the intro - after the names? If it were brief enough, it could be higher, or we could have a link to the bulk of it on another page which you might like to create. I think all we want here is the latest state of play, but I'm open to persuasion.

Doc

A day by day news on the editable part and a weekly history in another page purely as a record of performance sounds better.

Thanks for trying to help out Jack, I do post directions to it now and again in relevant threads.

JSG

Cheers James. Pleased you agree with me. Do ask Jack to add a link to us in reciprocation. He can nick any of our ideas if things are slow.

Cheers again, Doc.

I agree this sounds a whole lot better. I didn't really like the uneditable nature of journals. I'll look into setting up another h2g2 page for this purpose.

Thanks guys.

Technical question here:

If I want to set up another h2g2 page, I imagine I need a new h2g2 login. Can I get this under my existing BBC login, or do I need another one?

Icy

Icy. Good, reason prevails! I believe it is possible to set up additional pages under the same login. I don't know the details so you might want to ask one of the italics. You can make many 'entries' in various places, but I ain't a h2g2 expert by any means. If you really need this info, I can ask around if you have a problem.

However, if you want the new page to be editable by others - as I suspect you well might - then not having it under your personal name and password might be a good idea. That's what I did with the main QQN page as distinct from my own 'toxxin' page.

Doc

Hi Doc, JR, JSG, everyone,

Perhaps you would like to peruse the skeletal site and let me know what you think...

Cheers,

Icy. How about including a link to us. I'll do one for you. You're free to edit it (without making it too huge of course)

Thanks, done. I've edited yours slightly too.

Icy

p.s. would you like your intro rewritten in GuideML. It could make the names list look a lot neater.

If you know that stuff, then please feel free, I'm feling too lazy.

e

JR,

I'm e-mailing you a GuideML version of your intro. Feel free to use it if you prefer. It is a little more difficult to maintain, though.

Icy

Thanks icy, I'll see if I can make sense of it, I may have to learn a bit of GML.