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

Hi ESSEXSTUD

As promised, I've come across to your page to help you with a problem you're having with a posting elsewhere that contains allegations about you.

None of the Gurus or ACEs can get messages removed. However, we can make sure you're aware of the correct procedures and help you if you have any technical difficulties.

Have you yikesed the offending post? If not, is that because you're using a digibox?

We will sort this out, and I'll help as much as I can, but it would be very useful if you could avoid posting in any thread where this argument is likely to escalate. In particular, please don't post to the Hiya thread or to the Question!! thread.

Amy
Guru

still see this person has to send a post to the Questin thread after being advised not to.

amy i have only just read ur post as i was replying to the others first my friends tweety n gotbeme4ever are on those threads n i was talking to them was,nt argueing if nosey people want to read into things then let them thank u for ur help nyway amy speeky soon ur ok lol x

if anyone believes that then they are fools,could had read amys post 1st,as ive already read on here where you are going to text a certain person(no names mentioned)sp proves you are incontact with them by text or e-mail,and by the way i dont care whose you e-mail from yoome2 as i hardly go on there,you just sent that post to see if i get into a argument with you,well im not going to.

excuse me i read a msg oon here the other day when mr bluesky said he was,nt conming on here nymore funny how he changes his mind over night i replied to this one last seenms like u just want to carry on i will let amy n the others make up there mind n that about the e-mails is a fact its safer to do it like that coz then people cant but in sorry amy

amy now perhaps u will see my point ive just been taking a look around and i see u have started a thread with mr bluesky but its funny how he has to join in this thread whern he has his own its a reacurring problem if he didnt interfere then maybe it would be a lot quiter on here n peiople could have fun

im keeping a eye on you,unsubscribed from this conversation,i dont want to carry anything on,funny you read your other post 1st and not amys dosent look whose post you read 1st,anyone can read between the lines why that that happend.
UNSUBSCRIBED FROM THIS THREAD
I will never let yu drive me off here thats 4 sure.

you was advised not to post on the Question thread but you did,and i know the reaon why why didnt yot you read amys post 1st before your other posts,now i am going to unsubscribed from this thread.

not only that the other person has already said that they have unsubscribed from the Question thread so you must had read that when you replyed to their posts.

I'm not here to referee or arbitrate or take sides. I'm hoping to be able to give you information about how h2g2 works so that both of you can enjoy the site. Flame wars take up staff time and that has a knock-on effect on the rest of us who would prefer the staff to spend their time on more positive projects.



The Editors have already made it clear to both of you that all threads are available for everyone to read. It is not against the house rules to read someone else's posts or to subscribe to them or to comment on them.

Nor is it against the house rules to post in a thread. Mr Bluesky is not breaking the house rules by posting in this thread.

However, as in real life, there are some things that you don't do even if they aren't strictly against the rules. To return to my bus analogy I was using in another thread, if you're sitting behind two people on a bus and they're deep in conversation with each other it isn't against the law to join in but it is bad manners.

Similarly, each time you read a thread there's nothing *technically* stopping you from joining in but you have to make a judgement - every time - about whether it's polite to do so.

One difficulty is that some threads are definitely public and anyone who wants to should feel comfortable about chipping in their but other threads are 'private' in a sense. But how do you tell the difference? One rule I use is that if a thread is in someone else's Message Centre I treat it as 'private' unless there are clear signs that it isn't. If I want to make a comment - even if it's about the same topic as an existing thread - I start a new thread in that person's Message Centre. Another clue that a thread is 'private' is if the subject heading contains two names, as in the case of this thread. This is not a House Rule but it is a convention here on h2g2. That is, it's an informal rule that a lot of users of h2g2 understand. I think ESSEXSTUD has cottoned on to this but perhaps this convention is new to you, Mr Bluesky.

When you read a thread and decide you want to say something - or feel you really have to say something - then start a new thread. It would be best if you could just yikes any posts that you find offensive without posting at all but I realise that's hard to do.

Just to make it clear what I mean, what I'm saying is that Mr Bluesky could have posted in the thread I started in his message centre to comment on what he'd read here in this thread. Or he could have started a new thread in my message centre. But by posting here in this thread it has perpetuated the flame war between the two of you.

The next thing to consider is what happens when people get it wrong, as Mr Bluesky has done here. The important thing is to avoid telling people off. Try to give them the benefit of the doubt - very often they mean no harm. If you think that the intrusion is malicious, just do a body swerve - ignore the intruder and carry on as if he or she wasn't there. 'Ignoring' is a very effective tactic here on h2g2. It works much better than 'having a go'. If someone is persistent then go to their message centre and start a new thread to explain that you would prefer that they didn't post in your 'private' conversation with Researcher B but that you're happy to chat in this new thread.



To summarise:

Private threads don't strictly speaking exist on h2g2 but try to recognise them when you see them and respect them even if you're badly upset by something you've read.

It's nearly always better to start a new thread than to interrupt an existing one.

Try to be forgiving of people who get it wrong. Do a body swerve rather than a flame.




I'm sorry this has turned into a bit of a lecture but I'm still hoping that the two of you can co-exist on h2g2 if you can both adopt some basic ground rules.

Amy

the point im trying to make is,that if he read the other thread you will see that,that oerson has already stated that they have had unsubsribed from the ohther conversations,so why did he send a post to the Question thread,surely he must had read it on their page,maybe he read your post 1st and took know notice of it,then sent a post to the Qestion Thread,as know one knows if that happend do they.

I understand the points you're making, Mr Bluesky. I've posted to each of you separately on the matter.

I am doing my best to read all the relevant threads and I am aware that my advice is not always being taken. But then, why should it always be taken? It is only advice.

My experience of h2g2 is that people often continue to read threads even when they've publicly unsubscribed from them.