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

We've kinda taken over, haven't we?

I'm sure Affy would love to explain everything about continuity... I'm not going to because I'll mess it all up most probably. Anyway, the MotMV works in a continuity-less environment, which works fine for us because we never actually try to kill anyone, we're just being as silly as possible. It could be annoying for people who don't understand that, like STUMPED - they kept giving us long boring lectures about why what we're doing is wrong, which we duly ignored and kept being silly, until they went away. Great way to win battles, wearing out the other side by making no sense whatsoever and then having tea.

?

Hmmm...if I remember right, victory was declared by STUMPED as well. After all, they were just on a recon mission.

I've got no problem with going without continuity, but rules just have to be laid out. You said yourself that no one tries to kill anyone...but what if someone did? And then, what if they throw a fit when you don't want your character to stay dead?

What if I were to, say, walk into your forum and say, "A giant weapon of DOOM fell from the sky and killeed every1 but MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!11111111!!!!!!!!!LOLOLOLLLLLOOLOOLOLOLOL!!!11!"

That just gets too annoying after a while. And while I'm glad that you've been fortunate enough to not have that type of thing happen, STUMPED hasn't had that kind of luck. That's why so many of the members can get really, really persnickety about it. Heck, I'm one of the leading Continuity Ogres out there.

I think that's why I've actually avoided a confrontation between CLI and MotMV. It'd be fun, but I wouldn't want you to, say, accidentally kill one of my cherished creations. I know that you wouldn't mean any harm when you did it, but judging by the treatment that STUMPED's recon robot got, there's no way that I could safely permit, say, my robot Ampton to wander in. As he's grounded in continuity, any problems to him would have real and lasting repercussions elsewhere. Similarly, I wouldn't want to be turned into pudding as that's something that a character like mine couldn't easily survive. Nor would I want to send in an army of fighter jets, as at least one of them would have to be flown by one of my main characters in order to make it worth while.

If I could figure out a way to ensure the safety of things like that, then I'd definitely play with MotMV more often. But, since I can't really figure it out just yet, I'll have to avoid it for now. Keep all interaction to a social level.

Well, I still think STUMPED were being overly stuck-up and annoying, but I can see what the problem could be - so I like your suggestion that we make 'Continuity Zones' and 'Continuity-less Zones'. This way, MotMV for instance will be in a continuity-less zone, so we could have the kind of battles we enjoy.
Then, if you decided to attack us, for instance, you will also be affected by this 'continuity-less field' sorta thingie. So if, for instance, somebody happens do drop a refrigerator on your head, you could simply react with something like ' Hey, what did you do that for?'... or perhaps emerge from the fridge armed with the Mighty Frozen Waffle Stick of Doom. Or something even more weird and inexplicable.

Yeah, I like that suggestion.

We should probably also implement "Preferential Zones" or something, more as a technical term than as a rule to enforce. Places like the H2G2 Beach/Waterworks and The Aroma Cafe or Joanna's Donut Stall are almost always filled with a healthy mix of people who both follow Continuity and people who don't either because they don't know about it or because they don't like the other side.

Then we'd probably have to get signatures from a lot of people. That way OOC friendships could be maintained without having to beat people over the head with the rules of Continuity.

*Sorry if this gets posted multiple times*

Similarly, we should probably figure out some method for talking about disputes. Figure out who would be good to call on in these issues.

Well, I don't know how much we need a large-scale organised thing... never been too good with organising actually. Anyway, as long as anyone respects anyone else's preferences I guess it should be okay.

Got to say I'm really amused by the name 'Aroma Cafe', simply because Aroma is a coffe-shop chain here, something like Starbucks only nicer (and cheaper). Used to work there for a while after the army. I bet it's not really the same here.

The Aroma Cafe used to be h2g2's biggest hotspot. Everyone went there.

After the BBC takeover, however, they did a bunch of moderating stuff and learned that the name Aroma was copyrighted, and they shut down the shop.

I think that they're currently going by "The Aromatic Cafe" now. But that doesn't stop the old-timers from calling it by its real name.

Woah, you've done your research, Penny.

Except I'd say that it still IS the biggest hot spot on h2g2. Nothin'll change that.

I actually know the place... I think it was one of the first places I went to on h2g2. But I was a newbie and didn't have much to say, and eventually I got bored and unsubscribed, and never came back. *shrug* But such is the way of life.

I've not been there in ages myself. It's not the same as it used to be, back when Irving Washington would toss me a Usual (which I've noticed now has its own spot on the menu!), and Ook would play scrabble with anyone, and the talk was civilized and topical.

It's still a great place, but nostalgia prevents me from embracing it.

I suppose, I just never came back... and now I've got too many stuff going on as it is, so I'm trying not to join anything new.

Much. Too _much_ stuff going on. Sorry, my English gets a bit muddled every now and then.

That's okay. I understood you perfectly the first time.

You're much better than I am at languages, quite frankly.

Ah well, I do my best... especially considering the fact this isn't my first language and all.

I'd be terrified to go to a language where my first language wasn't the primary one. I'm always amazed at people who do it.

You know, before the BBC takeover, h2g2 had huge communities of foreign language speakers. Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, French....we even made up a few of our own languages.

Then the BBC decided to not allow it anymore.

Wow, you're OLD... yeah, from what I gather it was a pretty different world here before the beeb took over.

Anyway, I've got a pretty good level of English so I usually don't mind the second-language bit. As far as I know, right now I'm the only researcher from Israel that's active (there were a couple more I think but I don't usually see them around), so that's pretty cool.

*Tries to imagine the old times*

Yeah, I kinda wonder about that myself... though it's not all that bad here now too.

I know. I just can't shake that feeling that I've missed out on a Golden Age, though.

You've been doing homework, Penny. Golden Age is what some people call that time.

Some good things have come from moderation, though. In general, the "trouble posters" are easier to get rid of now. That, plus the site probably has more people now than it would have.

We've lost the old community, though. That was back before we needed continuity to maintain order. Discontinuity helped at times....caused the creation of the magic forest, for one thing.

Oh, well. We'll never go back. But the future still looks fun.

Whee! Fun! I'm in the fun future!