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

Spider poo is clear? Why is that? How odd.

..ermm...I totally lost my train of thought...oh yeh...I like Bosch too

Look forward to reading your entries Ed...mebbe I'll do something this year....mebbe...still rather irked that I couldn't do Rachael Carson

I like Bosch, too!! Haven't got any books of his stuff yet.

Have a really nice Victor Brauner though.

Unusual! I had never heard of him till you mentioned, and yes I like him too

Amazing, we all like Bosch! Great stuff.

I like Bosch too.

I'm sure it's just a phase, Edward. We all get those miserable "h2g2 ain't what it used to be" moods once in a while.

Err, I don't think it is just a phase. I can remember when I would be online at hootoo and there would be tons of people I knew online. Now it's just kind of a vacuum a lot of the time. I've seen a definite decline in the last year.

JEllen

Is it just that people naturally move on, JEllen? Are you still making new friends like you would have when you first joined?

I feel bad when I hear JEllen and other h2 friends talk about the decline. I used to be online here a lot. I work a lot more hours now, and spend quite a bit more of my work day actually *working*, so I've had a lot less time to participate. I've never been one of the heavy hitters here anyway, and never have the time to get around to the guide entries I want to write... so I'm fairly confident my presence isn't even missed. But without some of the really prolific contributors, the place seems "different".

I'm still glad to see a couple of my favorite people back in action, though.

It does seem like people have just moved on, for whatever reason. And it seems like there's another phase where all of the conversations are about the same things... or maybe that's just my perception.

"seems like there's another phase where all of the conversations are about the same things"

Yeah, what's with all the "UK centric" nonsense, that's really annoying Sorry to come in only to rant

I'm with Pc..working alot more and things...

I have found that over the years, I have posted less on the controversial chats because instead of chats or debates, they tend to get out of hand and turn into all out literal wars, and sniping. Which I can really do without being drawn into...occasionally I'll silently read and I'll keep my opinions to myself...

What "UK centric" nonsense?

For some time there were a lot of thread titles with the addition "UK centric"<which kind of put me off.

I just browsed through Ask again, apparently there weren't actually that many threads like that , but others must have noticed this habit too, I found one "... - houseplant centric" and another "... - music centric"

Just found one that's completely pointless: "An extra hour (UK-centric)" about summer/wintertime . I hadn't read that one at first because I assumed from the title that whatever was being talked about was UK-c...you know..

Ah! Now I understand.

It's not just the 'Uk Centric' stuff, either. I'm a died-in-the-wool atheist, but I get sick of all the tit-for-tat christian/anti-christian threads. It gets a wee bit dull after a while. So does all the racist and hompphoboc bullshit the BBC has no qualms with... though we can't post "profanity", it appears people can post hate-mongering filth.

It's made it more difficult, over the past couple of years, to allocate some of my little free time, to reading threads where people can post garbage, but when they're called on it, the one who calls bullshit is modded.

What's been putting me off lately is the sub-Daily Mail level of some of my interlocutors. I thrive on *intelligent* disagreement.

Those black things sound like a fungus to me - but I'd need pictures. You get things like tar spot on sycamores.

Hi Ed! I think I see what you mean. But... my favourite line from the house rules was always this: "Please be patient. People of all ages and abilities hang out on h2g2" I wish everybody (of course not just you Ed) would remember this more often. In realy life, too

Up to a point, yes...but one or two of them (I'll name no names ) tend to infect just about every potentially interesting thread. I have limited patience with their agenda.

A couple of those people are keeping me away, too, and I'm here sporadically enough as it is. I can imagine how much more frustrating it would be for people who actually do spend a fair amount of time actually trying to engage in discussion, as opposed to just lurking around, like I've been doing.

One or two of those people seem to be singing a slightly different tune in a couple of other threads, as if to put people off the scent. Strange.

May I ask you something Ed? Different subject...I think I'll leave you a message...

ask away