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

I would assume that you editor-folk are overwhelmed with the amount of submissions turned in daily. I have seen a people who submit something daily, or as fast as they can type. Have you thought of limiting submissions to one or two per person per week? That would certainly make people think about what they are writing before they submit it. (I know I submitted my first entry too soon)

If we really find it's impossible to cope with the number of entries people are submitting, we might think about limiting people, but at the moment we'd rather try and cope as best we can. We're drafting in more people to review and edit submissions, but it's still a huge task.

Thanks for the quick response! I guess I'm more concerned about the length of time it takes to be rejected (oops, I wasn't supposed to be negative) than the number of submissions.

Let me ask another question. I was thinking of writing a article on ice hockey, but I see that the H2G2 writing team has already posted something on the subject. If I have more to add, is it worth it? Or is there only one guide entry allowed per subject? The one the H2G2 team wrote is pretty short, and there is a lot more to say about hockey (at least from a fan's point of view).

Many of the existing articles are only a starting point. We'd much rather have longer, more informative articles. Nothing in the Guide is set in stone, and it's very much up to the users to help improve the content. You can either post to the discussion forum if you want to suggest small additions to articles or you can write your own article.

One thing that will start to happen is that several people will write articles on the same subject, and the editors might combine the best bits into one article, in which case all those researchers will be credited as having contributed to the article.

also if I may add and I'm sure Jim Lynn will correct me where I'm wrong, but even after you have submitted an article, I believe it is still possible to edit it. So if you submit an article too soon, and come up with more information you would like to add, or notice a word has been misspelled, you can go back in and edit it up until the point they officially accept or reject your entry.

Yes. Actually, there is a period where you probably can't edit a submitted entry - that's if an editor has locked it for editing. In this case, the entry may or may not be accepted (the editor might think better of it) in which case it'll go back to being one of your regular pages. But if you're the only person credited to your article, then you can safely edit in, and when the editors finally look at your article, it's the new version they'll see.

Jim, is there a place somewhere in the Don't Panic section that explains how and when it's proper to update a submitted page, or are you having as much trouble trying to properly detail how h2g2.com works as I'm having trouble trying to properly explain how QuadBee works?

Oh, and can I call you Jim or should I use Mr. Lynn, or maybe I should refer to you as the naughty bits of Margaret Thatcher or something?

Jim is fine. Mr Lynn is my dad's name.

Weird coincidence! He's got the same first name as my Dad!

My Dad's first name was Mister too! Maybe we're all related!