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

Lil,

I don't know where to start. Forget my nicknames of Superdreamer and Minoova I want to speak to you as Ben. The world of H2G2 has kept me amused during the long hours that I spend doing not very much at work and is little more than distraction from the monotony. It is clear to me that for many people it is much more than that. I admit that at the moment I tempted to cast aspersions on the state of these peoples social life (I have a very reactionary temperament) but I won't, because I have enjoyed myself here.

I want to explain you how the mess with Minoova arose and how, despite appearances, I did not break the continuity. I feel I owe it too you. You have been a good friend and you are someone who I respect and trust, it saddens me to think I have betrayed this. Superdreamer best describes the explanation of this fiasco.

"I thought it was a shame that Minoova had been given an appearance and not a personality. So when Minoova popped out the back to put the rubbish out I took her home and attempted to give her a personality. Now I am not the most technical person in the world and that combined with the lack of time, meant that I didn't do a good job. Instead of freeing up her real personality I transferred mine upon her confusing the poor lass immensely. I shall let her take over from here”

“Everything was going fine until I was invited to a party, where I believe I consumed some alcohol. This combination of alcohol and my already confused state resulted in more of Superdreamers (SD) personality taking over (my being less suitable to the excesses of alcohol than his). This caused me to head for one of SD’s favourite haunts, the Aroma Café, and greet the clientele by the names that he is familiar with. When asked how I became so familiar with these people I became even more confused, uttered some witty but over the top remark. I then started to feel a bit queasy and decided to head home where I passed out in my cupboard. I think SD knows what happened next.”

“Yes, well, on returning to H2G2 I realised what a mess I had created and thought I would try and put Minoova back to normal before Affi found out that she had been tampered with. I found her downstairs wrapped up in duct tape with a couple of panels open. It broke my heart to see her treated like this, especially as it was all my fault. I removed my personality from her but left a void where it had been. I didn’t think this would matter so I freed her, hoping that she would be back to normal. Unfortunately the void sucked in all the bad feeling that was directed at her and turned her evil. I never meant for all this to happen, I just fell for a French Maid Cleaning Bot.”

Or a RL translation of- I thought it was a shame that Minoova had been given an appearance and not a personality, that much is true. So I created one for her. I then thought I had logged back on a Superdreamer and went to say hi to some old friends. I wrote my greeting and pressed the post reply button. Just as the screen flashed away I noticed that I was still Minoova. I new that not only had I given myself away, but I had also screwed up the continuity. I said the thing about the Hoover to attract attention away from my original entry as I new that it gave away too much, I then left to think about the situation I was in. I came in the next day to see that Minoova had been taken away and I was being blasted as a fraud. Fair enough, but had nobody made a big fuss about it I could have sorted it out. You actually started off helping me out in the Café, and if it had carried on like that everything would be fine right now. But Garius saw to that. OK, I’m not the best person to be a buxom wench, but I’m leaving at the end of the week anyway. It could’ve been fun.

I know I screwed up and I shouldn’t have messed around like I did, all the Evil Minoova was meant as a tongue in cheek sort of thing. A few more things I would like to say are that in England “cocked up” is not an obscenity, and I have never considered myself to be a genius, I am a very modest person, and as for Garius’s “I was just being polite and letting YOU think YOU were a genius by pretending not to know your identity. “ How patronising is that? I am grateful that no one has openly connected SD and Minoova, but slagging me off whilst pretending not to know that he knows who I am. This is why I respect you. You are honest about these things.

As for what to do next, I have asked for Minoova to be removed officially and after this I will never use her again. I only ask that you do not ignore Superdreamer as Garius suggests and allow him to spend my last 5 days here in peace. I don’t mind if Garius ignores me as rest assured I will ignore him.

I honestly didn’t mean to cause any hassle, everything I have done I did in good faith and I hope you will forgive me.

Ben.

What an excellent backstory! We can work this in and you can have Minoova, or Evil Minoova, or Distracted and Drunken Minoova or whatever. Having the backstory makes ALL the difference in the world, Ben! And your post is as much a piece of good faith on your part as I could hope for.

Let's put it to the guys at CLI and see what they think.

See, you only have to ask. It is important to me, and I AM aware that many researchers don't give a tinkers damn about this idea of Continuity. I work at a fairly intense right-brain level at what I do, and when I arrive at h2g2 I keep right on visualizing. Many others visualize intensely too, which leads to potential trouble when worlds collide! The Law of Continuity is an attempt by some of us to find a way to make different people's versions of h2g2 cooperate.

Then it becomes a better game, I think. We're not just slipping the leash on our imaginations but we're making something that doesn't fall over sideways as soon as we turn our back on it.

I'll contact the guys and see what new story we can make around Minoova, using the elements you have contributed. It could be fun.

The "right" way, i.e., the way that would have satisfied the demands of a continuous plot, would be for you to POST all that about taking Minoova away (you could add a URL to the thread at your "home" space where you do the deed). After checking with me or Garius... But let's see what the guys suggest now.

Thank you Ben, for reaching out to heal the breach!

I'm am so releived you approve, it is a weight off my shoulders.
I will sort out an explanation at my home page sometime today. cheers.

SD/Minoova - you were obviously offended by my genius comment. It was in direct response to the similar comment you disparagingly made towards me and would not normally have been written. I hate flame wars and am not a flame warior, but unfortunately in this case I yielded to my baser instincts. For that, I apologise.

While I am not altogether happy with the solution as proposed above, I can see that it is a reasonable compromise and therefore will endorse it. Especially since Lil seems to be happy with it.

*Extends hand for shaking in a concilliatory gesture*