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

I rarely write anything in my journal any more

I went through my forums, all those hundreds of them. It made me very sad to see all the early ones that had died . I noticed my style, back then, was much more innocent. I never swore.
I think I was a better researcher back then, to be honest. I went round and posted where and when I wanted. I don't any more.
I prefer my older articles. In my personal quest to know loads about HM bands and things I like, things have got a lot less personal with these things, if you understand me. Now it's just a case of "me read book, me relay facts".

So, I sing myself an Iron Maiden song:

"So, understand,
Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years,
Face up, make your stand,
And realise you're living in the golden years."

oh my dear, i am saddened to see that you are not happy with how you are now. i do not know what to say except that you should be happy. life is too short to be upset, i know that at times things occur which make it hard to be happy but it is during these times that you must give yourself a good swift kick in the rear and smile. there is nothing wrong with reading something interesting then sharing what you have learned with others. really, it is quite interesting to those of us who do not know of these things, it gives us other views on what is going on around us which is good . for this i thank you, i have learned quite a bit from you in the short time we have chatted together and look forward to learning even more. as for the not having fun anymore, or not posting just to post....start!, there is no time like the present ...i recall seeing something about you attending parties and such in the past, why not start one of your own and invite all of your friends, this would be a great way to get back into the swing of enjoying yourself while at the same time allowing you to continue sharing your knowledge with us. you can be free and funloving in one room while serious in the other. in time you will find that you can do both at the same time ....
by the way, there is nothing wrong with living in the golden years, they are the best years of your life ....i once had someone ask me what i meant by that because they thought i meant only now...i explained that all the years of ones life is the best because they will never come again so you must enjoy them while you can, they are precious
i must admit that by just reading your new journal entry i have learned something i have never heard this iron maden song (really don't know if i have heard any) but i quite like the verse you quoted. it is quite true
i do not know if my writing this helped or not but i do hope that it helped a little....
AA

Your writing helps a lot. Thank you so much!

I just need to remind myself...that Maiden verse. It had actually been a good influence to me in the past. Today however, I dropped my guard and forgot the message of the song. Hence this journal.

Yeah, I need to remind myself, if I see something that I can comment about, then I should not stall from commenting. Looking through my forums, the last time (in my eyes) I did this was seven weeks ago. Well, I stall no longer

The party sounds interesting. There are a few gathering points I've set up, where I can do one or the other, I think the nearest I've got to it is the Bring Back Dangermouse page. There are many parties on h2g2, methinks I've got to take an opportunity from them. The only fear is that I end up talking to myself. But then again, I have just said up there...

I am glad you've taken the time to do this, AA. My mind is at peace now. And all in the space of an hour

i am pleased that you feel better. the one thing that always makes me feel good is knowing that i have helped someone else. i don't know why, it has just always been a joy for me to do what i can for others...be it advice or nothing more than a shoulder to cry on ...
when it comes to you hosting a party, i can promise that you will not end up talking to yourself, all you need to do is let us know where and when it is and we will be there...you never know, your dear aunty may even let her hair down a bit and shock everyone
AA

Everone feels good when they help somebody. Even me

There are many parties onsite here. You have one by Greebo, one by Katsy, and the new crew party to name three. Actually, the new crew one isn't really hosting 'new' crew any more, we've all settled into our duties quite well.
Guess I may want to do something more low-key. Afte all, I hate jumping onto a bandwagon...but if there's something to be gained from the experience, I'm all for it. Maybe I can think of something original for it...

Enough! If you start pushing the idea then it may not end up coming from the heart, and it won't have that magic touch...you know what I mean .
Well, I'll think about it...not that I haven't thought about it enough alreasy LOL!

Thanx 4 being helpful

I've always found that the best parties are the ones' that aren't planned!

As far as posting in other forums.......I have never been afraid of making a fool of myself(which I am famous for!)........but I've met a lot of great folks that way, and have never talked to myself for very long!

"Jump in, jabber on, and just have fun!"

NM

*hugs Neffyew*
Now, you know I love you dearly even when you really really piss me off. You're a very precocious lad and sometimes it's easy to forget you're not an adult... until you have another one of those teenage epileptic fits.

You're becoming. You're doing fine. Go to a party and try not to be too outrageous

Too late.

When have I pissed you off?

Interestingly enough, I looked at my earliest posts, and I got insulted quite a few times. Isn't it amazing how things change?

When have you pissed me off? Oh, never mind. Nothing serious enough to make lists about. I think "pissed off" is way too strong a term anyhow. "Taken aback" might be more like it

So where have you been outrageous today?

Incidentally, I think it's just part and parcel of h2g2 architecture that threads do die. They become unmanageably long and nobody wants to play on them any more, and newcomers stay away from them because the amount of catch-up reading would be impossible. Sad and sloppy, but true.

That's right.

Well, since you've asked, the outragousness sort of happened in the forum of my article where I list stuff I've rejected, and list stuff from my latest batch, and invite the researchers to discuss their work. However, because the page opens with honesty from my end, two people have got disgruntled. I've done the explaining with one, but the other didn't get the message. She's chickened out of the discussion now, wasn't very strong anyway.

Oh aren't I saying terrible things!

Thing is, a lot of the early threads a v short. Many of them are in difficult to find spots, but there are many which just seemed to have dropped dead halfway though without any sort of conclusion.
And before anyone starts to wonder, these are conversations with people I have NOT insulted!

Wow! I am amazed that you have a page for discussing your rejections. I only get in touch with researchers whose work I've already decided to accept, with a view to cleaning up grammar or making sure I understand the material before I simplify wording, like with Joanna's photoelectric effect. In some cases the researcher hasn't been active in several months, so I go ahead and do what I think necessary.

But if I reject a work, I hide behind the reasons section of the article, even though I try to give scrupulously exact reasons.

Dang, I just got disconnected. I hope this doesn't get lost.

Anyway, have you had feedback from the PTB or other subs about this?

Speaking of dying threads, the Book Nook seems to be moribund. A couple of threads are alive, but Beeblefish has been completely absent for ever so long, and if the page owner doesn't contribute, it seems that nothing will keep a forum going...

Well, I think it would be nice if a researcher got an opportunity to justify their page after it gets rejection, and if they get to do it with the sub-editor who rejected it (ie me). It's cutting out the anomnity that the PTB (wisely) put into subediting. I'm just ready to get the flak *^_^*

So far I've had two subs in the forum, and no PTWVH. One of the subs was helpful, the other was too but was also gunning for me .

Remember, I've also got the place for discussing stuff I've got in my latest batch. However, I get articles from people who've been away from h2g2 for many weeks . Today I emailed Bluebottle about -another- Isle of Wight page I've got from him. It's dead handy if people have their addys on their page


Hmm, I never been to BookNook. What's it like? I thought it belonged to Irving...

I've been waiting for Bluebottle to get back from IRL so I can wrap my latest batch. I have actually written to Sam and apologised for the delay...

The booknook is named after Irv but was constructed by Beeble with artwork by me. You haven't seen my artwork there?

I will have a look round these fora of yours. Sounds extremely interesting. Pleasant dreams.

Just an aside.......I remember when I first got here......folks would come 'round to see you're page. No one goes to mine anymore...with good reason. (First, I'm boreing!)......But there is so much more to do here, now!

It's fun, sure.....but the site is starting to lose it's "small town" feel.

It can't be helped,.....but I miss it already!

NM

FS, I'm working on that. Compulsive visualiser that I am, I am in the process of trying to render what I call H2G2-By-The-Sea.

I do think that we get into routines here and tend to pick, and stick to a certain few fora where we meet the same set of fellow researchers. And up till the past few weeks the infrastructure tended to reinforce that behaviour. If it took twenty minutes to download and post to a popular forum, then available time would be at a premium and you wouldn't have time to experiment. Lately, I've been to all sorts of new places because the new server _lets_ me.

And our Mike gets around twice as much as me.

I still visit pages of researchers I haven't met -- found an interesting one just today -- but do plead guilty to not revisiting old acquaintance. Again, maybe that's something I'll do more often now that it's easier.

Do you change your home page fairly often?

Major overhaul 3 weeks ago.......still got my Parrot pic, though. I don't want to part with it!

I'm not really concerned that no one visits...I understand the time constraints on users in this site. If a Researcher has anything else to do on their 'puter(as I do), several hours can be burned here just answering posts. It doesn't leave a lot of time for "roaming".

H2G2 is a huge place. While there aren't a massive number of Researchers "online" at any given time, the number of Homepages is daunting, to say the least!......And read every Article!?....Unless you're into reading the Encyclopedia, it's a "look it up if you need it" proposition!

All this was bound to happen...it's in the nature of the site. I'm proud to see it so successful, and I always knew this time would come.

.....But that doesn't stop me from missing the early days!

NM

NM

Wow, FS's homepage is big! I remember, when you joined Bring Back Dangermouse I ended up seeing your homepage lots of times, but it's grown into a whopper since!
Reminds me, I need to sort out mine. It may not look big, but from the edit screen it's massif, and very hard to navigate. However, I can't bear to take anything down, and there's stuff I wanna add.

I want to get my pictures back too. Just because I'm an ACE doesn't mean I should have to censor my own homepage!

Lil, topiks always drift . But we've been here long enough to figure...I remember me and Anonymouse totally changed the flow of a thread that was meant to be about suggesting improvements to the guide. Ah, Glory Days! They'll pass you by...
Ain't seen artwork, never new you'd done artwork for it! Let me see!

Somebody'spage I haven't been to for a while: Zach Garland. He was my favourite writer. I read his stuff and was in awe. But since I took down my links box I haven't had easy access to his page

He-he! My page got so jumbled, I couldn't find anything!

One trick Monsy taught me.....on your "Edit" page, double enter between codes. It helps to keep them seperate, and keeps you from losing where one line starts and another begins!

NM

Like, fancy graphics and things, or just normal day-to-day stuff?
Suppose I ought to start getting used to it. I like the edir screen to resemble the finished product as closely as possible. Thus if my homepage has two gaps in it, then there must be two cided gaps on the edit screen, no less no more!

Old habits die hard, I think sounds appropriate

I've found that a space between each line, with exception of text, makes it much easier to find coding mistakes, and, to make changes to the code in the future!

No, it doesn't look anything like the finished product.......but it's easier to deal with!

NM