back to article It was the Reg what won it: Online Hitchhiker's Guide thriving

A cheering tale of triumph over adversity reached Vulture Central this week to warm the heart of even the frostiest soul. The online encyclopaedia h2g2 - after the famous Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy books - launched by author Douglas Adams in 1999 has survived its amputation from the BBC and is doing well. The Beeb cut …

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  1. Anomalous Cowturd
    Thumb Up

    +1 for Pan Yan pickle

    Why can't anyone find the recipe?

    :o(

    1. jake Silver badge

      @Anomalous Cowturd (was: Re: +1 for Pan Yan pickle)

      The only copy of the original recipe was lost in a fire a couple years after the product was discontinued, from what I remember it was 2002 for the discontinuation & 2004 for the fire?? Something like that. Metacrawl it, if it matters to you.

      Last time I went looking, there are several recipes scattered around TehIntraWebTubes, but none produce the substance I remember fondly. For one thing, they all call for malt vinegar, but surely it was made with white?

      Anybody have a clue? This Californian is all earseyes.

    2. Icy North
      Pint

      Re: +1 for Pan Yan pickle

      Hi Anomalous,

      I wrote that HP Sauce entry, but you've identified a serious black hole in the h2g2 Edited Guide regarding Pan Yan Pickle. I'll take a look and see if there's any mileage in it (or indeed if there's any horse in it).

      Cheers - Icy

  2. Tommy Pock

    The online game

    The BBC killed that too ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game_nolan.shtml )

    Can it be rescued?

    1. Adrian Jones

      Re: The online game

      How about by going here:

      http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocom.php

      1. Tommy Pock

        Re: The online game

        But I had a game saved on the bridge of The Heart Of Gold on the BBC one!

        Thanks very much for that though, Mr Jones

        /takes analgesic

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Beware of the Leopard

    A holy relic saved!

    Blessed are the cheese-makers!

  4. Jon Green
    Facepalm

    Damn!

    I wish I could remember my login - I'd done some of the earliest articles!

    1. Pastey
      Thumb Up

      Re: Damn!

      If you email gurus@h2g2.com they'll try and get you reunited with your old account

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Almost, but not quite, totally unlike Wikipedia

    I respect several things about HG2G:

    1) No deletionistas

    2) No drama-kiddies and flamewars

    3) None of this faux-posh "We are an encyclopedia and must be written like one."

    However, I fear that, should HG2G ever get to the popularity of Wikipedia, it will suffer the same "September that never ended" that all online communities suffer (cf. Slashdot, Reddit, and to some extent El Reg here) as the mass of children descend.

    1. SonofRojBlake
      Thumb Up

      Re: Almost, but not quite, totally unlike Wikipedia

      "No drama-kiddies and flamewars"

      It had those... years ago. It's settled down a lot since.

      "should HG2G ever get to the popularity of Wikipedia, it will suffer the same "September that never ended" that all online communities suffer "

      It had those too... there used to be a highly predictable silly season once a year as the new intake of undergrads got internet access uncontrolled by mum and dad and joined en masse, got rapidly bored by the relatively sedate pace of the place and scarpered, usually leaving behind three or four productive, useful remnants.

      There was also a sudden influx of people who used a set-top box to access the internet in about 2002.

      Hootoo survived all of this, and I wouldn't bet against it making it to 42...

      Why isn't EVERYONE using this icon?

  6. Will Godfrey Silver badge

    Shocked! Shocked, I am.

    I was totally unaware of this till now. How could that have happened?

    1. GBL Initialiser

      Too busy reading El Reg?

      1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
        Joke

        Hah, he's been too busy on the Pan-Galactic highway

        n/t

        1. Anonymous Dutch Coward
          Pint

          Re: Hah, he's been too busy on the Pan-Galactic highway

          Or downing Pan-Galactic Gargleblasters, more likely ;)

          1. Will Godfrey Silver badge
            Happy

            Re: Hah, he's been too busy on the Pan-Galactic highway

            Hic!

  7. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    I'm off there now

    to write a wildly innacurate yet somehow entirely appropriate article about how the marketing department of Google. . .

    Well, you know the rest.

    1. Anonymous Dutch Coward
      Coat

      Re: I'm off there now

      As long as you file your expenses for reimbursement ;)

  8. Neil Hoskins
    Facepalm

    Mobile

    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a wholly remarkable book, was, of course, primarily a mobile device. Douglas Adams foretold the popularity of smartphones and connected tablets while we still thought digital watches were a pretty neat idea. Which is why I've always been puzzled about the H2G2 site being aimed primarily at desktops. There does, in fact, seem to be some content at h2g2.mobi, but this looks really cut-down: text-only, in fact. What is needed is something aimed primarily at 4" and 7" devices.

    1. Pastey

      Re: Mobile

      The current front end was written to be part of the overall BBC "Barlesque" skin. We're dumping it as soon as we can, and have rewritten it from scratch so that it does actually work well on anything smaller than a desktop.

  9. R Cox

    too literal

    I tend to think taking writers vision of the future too literally is a dangerous thing. Like thinking one has to do everything exactly as it says in the christian bible. Douglas Adams has his book through internet in general, and wikipedia specifically. Both are standard "though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects...it is slightly cheaper." We have mobile devices that can access the encyclopedia anywhere. The advantage of this, of couse, is we have multiple corporations controlling it, so no one needs to be first against the wall when the revolution comes. They can all go at once.

    I also see this Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Fahrenheit 451. In one, a complex machine was needed to moderate the peoples boredom and angst, in the other a wall full of screens shouted our all the trivia of the world. In fact, one tiny screen, carried with us all the time, does the job through an endless supply of cat videos.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: too literal

      It's Sunday. Thank you for the sermon, but the holy day of H2G2 is in fact Wednesday, at 10:30 in the evening.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: too literal

        Is it! Great, just before thursday. I never could get my head around thursdays.

  10. J. Cook Silver badge
    Go

    Oh hey...

    Looks like I ought to resurrect my account over there.

  11. Camilla Smythe
    FAIL

    Yeah.. Sorry, Fuck That.

    I register. I receive the e-mail to confirm.

    "Hi there PooTurd!

    Thank you for for registering with h2g2.com

    Your Researcher Number is: 14998353

    In order to activate your account, we need to confirm your email address..

    This is a simple process, please go to vogons.h2g2.com/activateemail and enter in your email address and Researcher Number."

    I get this,

    http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2233/screenshotthehitchhiker.png

    Not only is it a recursive load of bollocks with 'Simon Cowell TrouserFont' I am asked to submit this information over a non-secure connection... FFS

    Can you ask the 'lovvies' to delete my account, if they can find it, and sort their Smeg Out.

    Tah.

    1. Pastey

      Re: Yeah.. Sorry, Fuck That.

      Can you please email this to gurus@h2g2.com ?

      I can assure you that this is nothing to do with us at the Guide, we don't use imageshack at all, never have, don't think we'll ever need to. I can only guess that there's something gone wrong with either your computer, your mail client or your ISP.

      But please contact us so that we can see if we can figure out how to help you.

    2. Pastey

      Re: Yeah.. Sorry, Fuck That.

      Right, sorry, I see what you mean. You're using imageshack to post a screenshot.

      This sign up method was used when the Guide first launched, and meant that all accounts are definitely associated with a verified account.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Camilla Smythe

      They don't like your OS, that's why.

      1. Camilla Smythe

        Re: @Camilla Smythe

        Hmm. OS problem?

        ..as in not Computer, Email Client or ISP problems.

        Maybe I should try,

        sudo apt-get install commondialog.dll

        or somesuch.

        Perhaps the Vogons are rubbing their pudgy thumbs across the experience known as TIFKAM 8 or trying to find us using Apple Maps. I'll pretend to put it back in its cardboard box and send it back to the shop ;-)

        Ode to The Interspace Highway Location I could not find.. etc

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yeah.. Sorry, Fuck That.

      Sorry, can't take you seriously when you're using frigging Imageshack.

    5. Blitheringeejit
      Thumb Up

      I'll upvote you...

      ...purely for "Simon Cowell TrouserFont".

  12. Camilla Smythe
    Holmes

    No Probs

    Thanks for...

    "Hi There, Knob.

    Sorry you didn't enjoy your h2g2 experience. Both of your accounts have now been deleted from our system.

    Regards,

    h2g2 Gurus."

    Perhaps you can include.... 'We Take Our Users Security and Privacy Very Seriously'

    I'll leave you with,

    http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2233/screenshotthehitchhiker.png

    Barring the Smegged information delivered this is exactly what I saw when trying to sign up 'properly'.

  13. Ian Johnston Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Finding out the h2g2 is still around

    is a bit like finding out that friendsreunited is still around. It's vaguely comforting, but you wonder what the point is.

  14. fishdog

    not 'wildly' inaccurate, but ...

    "h2g2 *boosts* 10,000 peer reviewed entries on everything from the HP sauce story to how to cope with a tomato ketchup shortage."

    It may indeed be quite accurate that appearing at h2g2 boosts these articles, but I am fairly sure the author intended to say that h2g2 boAsts 10,000 articles ...

  15. unitron

    So HP sauce...

    ...has nothing to do with whatever the Hewlett-Packard board of directors have been drunk on these past several years?

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