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

in all my eleven or so months at h2g2, i have met hordes of interesting people, had enlightening conversations and have a had a generally wonderful time. however... i must confess that i have also been very annoyed by One Particular Episode.

i'm a regular at pr, and even though i'm not a scout, i generally like to pop in to help out the newbie who does not yet know the writing guidelines. that is to say, of course, that i sometimes post a little message to say that it's an interesting article, and perhaps go on a little bit about how they can polish up on the article, or, if it's not quite eg material, how they can turn it into one or what other places they can send it to.

now, there's this one time when i went into one of the review sites (i won't say which) and found an article that was all opinion-based. i went in and politely said that the article was intriguing and interesting, but that because it was an opinion piece it didn't conform to writing guidelines, and that the author would perhaps like to send it to the post instead, because it was more flexible where creativity was concerned. and guess what? i got insulted! (of course, that was before i figured out how to yikes people) every attempt to clarify my statements was met with even more awful assaults, until i unsubscribed to the conversation in utter disgust. i would've forgotten about it, but only today i went into the review site again - and found the article still there. and read *what* the author had written in reply to my final posting.

i'm going to try and keep my temper and stay calm about this. i just find it... gaargh, there's just no word for it... i just don't see why people send their articles into review forums if they don't want to have their articles commented on! (ignoring comments is one thing; repeatedly insulting the person who wrote the comments is another) the whole point of review is for other people to have a look at your article and spot flaws in it, and suggest ways for you to improve on it, is it not? if so, then might not comments like 'you're telling me how to write this article???' and accusing me of not so much as being genuinely interested in commenting as in spitefully sniping the author juuuust a little... rude?


off to get a sedative ,
far.

Relax! Have a (or a )

Sadly, some people just don't know how to behave in public I hope it won't stop you from commenting on articles in PR and, more importantly, writing your own.

On the subject of which, I'm currently putting together one of the last collaborative 'topics of the week' - 'Planning a Surprise Party', and I'll be using your comments from the conversation threads, so look out out for that one appearing among your Entries soon

That seems to be part of a persistent problem in PR. It isn't just you, Farlander, and therefore unlikely to be anything you specifically did/said wrong.

i've already cooled down by playing several hours of hitman, but thanks don't worry, it hasn't deterred me from going into pr - but at least i know now to ignore a person after one round of attack (the alternative would be to yikes them, but i'm too nice). re: surprise parties - you know, danny, we really *did* do that to our friend. i don't think there are any *sane* scientists anywhere... did i say anything about the cult initiation plans? i should tell you about that sometime...

have a on me, you two. um, make that two s.