'I mean with 92,120 official researchers,

statistics say that we have all contributed to Guide

Entries a total of 45 words each'.¹

Last year for H2G2's 3^rd Birthday I did a report looking at the researchers who had written over
42 solo edited guide entries². So for the
4^th Birthday celebrations this week I though I should give you
all an update.

So how did they stand last year. The following table shows how they stood on 28
April 2002:

The last twelve months have seen just the one new addition to their number
and his 42^nd entry appeared over the Christmas period. But more
of him, as there are yet no female researchers with over 42 entries, later.

So how do I follow up on looking at the 42 plus entries that our researchers
have written now. In total the five since last year have added 77 new
entries. This is equivalent to what Demon Drawer, as second most prolific, has
added in his three and a half years on h2g2.

Who of the five has written the most in the last year:-

• Demon Drawer, obviously suffering under a long distance
  relationship, has written 31 in the last year, this is almost as many as he
  wrote in year before he met Fashion Cat.
• Gnomon has added an additional 21 entries rattling along at
  regular intervals.
• Jimi X keeps trundling along and has added 14 more entries; some
  of these are still amazingly about his home state.
• Just Zis Guy has, by comparison, been quiet but that still means he
  has written 9 new entries which is more than the vast majority of
  researchers.
• Bluebottle has hit his final year of his degree and therefore,
  unlike the others, has only added 2 new entries in the last
  year³.

The net result of this is that the top five after Jimi X have actually
inverted on the table over the last year:

So why do these guys write so much?

OK I know why I do so I asked the others as well. I asked two simple
questions to prolific writers and got the following long winded answers,
quoted in full:
Question 1: What is your favourite entry you have written?
Question 2: Why do you write so much?

Starting with the still most prolific.

OK, after much deliberation...

I liked Pennsylvania State Farm Show because
it's got a lot of good insider information from a lifetime of going to the
show.

But I'm also very fond of Old Mill Crab House,
Bethany Beach, Delaware, USA which I feel is more what Douglas was
looking for in entries.

But if you're forcing me to pick my favourite I'm going with the Crab
House (a non-Pennsylvania entry)?!? (To see what he means check out Jimi's catalogue to see how many entries he has done
on Pennsylvania - Ed).

As for why I write for h2g2 - the answer is simple really.

My wife works three nights a week at a posh restaurant so, after I get the
kids to bed and I finish the housework, I can either watch TV or do
something productive.

After nearly a decade of working at newspapers where I was asked to write
creative, informative articles each day, the past three years working in
public relations and writing vapid wishy-washy press releases has been
torture (But the hours, money and benefits are great!).

So have I sold my soul? Possibly. But my kids have got to eat!

So for me, h2g2 really provides an ideal outlet for me to release some of
my pent up creative energy without being told by anyone *what* to write. I
can do whatever strikes my fancy and I'm sure of it being read (if only by a
few people).

After I finish my master's degree, in journalism, I expect that I might
try to do some freelance writing and get paid for my 'creative outbursts'.
But until then, h2g2 is really quite a nice outlet to preserve my sanity and
keep my craft sharp.

Besides, the idea that I'm adding to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
still has its own appeal as well...

Sorry for rambling on so much there...

I guess I could have just said I contribute to h2g2 simply so I can beat
DD to 100.

Speaking of whom at number 2

I suppose having asked the questions to the others you'd expect me to
have a good and clever answer already written. Well no. However, I have been
inspired by what I received in from my fellow prolific authors and now feel
able to answer for myself.

My favourite article is quite possible one that took a lot of research on
my part into one of my passions and one of my most recent entries Film References in the Song 'Science Fiction Double
Feature'. Although I do have a soft spot for Kingston-Upon Thames, Surrey, England, UK which failed
in the pre-Peer Review days, I still have that rejection e-mail, but did
some more research and finally got it through Peer Review and into the
guide. However I do have entries written under some of my other user names
and one of these Being a Gay Sportsperson is one
I'm particularly proud of as it sparked discussion which led to it
becoming the collaborative piece that it is today.

As for why I write, I suppose it stems back to Jeremy Spence at primary
school who told me about this great radio show he'd heard on Radio 4.
I heard it on the first repeat a few months later. Since then I have been in
love with the whole concept of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

When I read an article online in the Times saying that Douglas was
looking for real life researchers in December 1999 I jumped straight to the
link and started my first entry. Admittedly it wasn't finished for
almost two years, but by having an open deadline I'm sure my entry on
my home town Bangor, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
lives up to at least some of DNA's expectations.

DD's full catalogue is here.

Moving on to the other Irishman at the top

Hi Demon Drawer. I saw that 45 entry just last week and was astounded by
it. Either I never saw the original or I have completely forgotten it. (We
must sign him up for a subscription to The Post - DD)

My favourite piece

Of all the entries I have written, my favourite
is probably Pre-Celtic Ireland because it was a
subject I knew nothing about, so I had to do a lot of research over the
space of about three weeks, including two visits to ancient Irish wedge
tombs. I learnt a lot and it is nice to be able to share it with everyone. A
close second favourite would be 'Carmina Burana -
Drink, Sex and Mediaeval Monks' . I'm very proud of that title and
for the careful use of euphemism in the entry itself.

Why do I write?

I've always enjoyed explaining things, and people tell me that I am rather
good at it. I've heard various experts explaining complex theories and I was
no wiser at the end of the explanation. I reckoned I could do better. When I
read 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy', I loved the idea of a Guide
which contained all knowledge. I started to write articles which I called
'The Guide', but never published them. Later I thought up the name 'Gnomon'
and my rough work became in my head 'Gnomon's Guide to the Galaxy'. When I
stumbled across h2g2 one day, I realised that this was the perfect place
where I could finally publish everything I knew along with a lot of other
like-minded inviduals. I've never looked back.

I'm always working on something. For example, someone asked recently why
the letters of the alphabet are in the order they are. I didn't know, but
researching the answer has led to all sorts of interesting by-ways of
history, involving the Phoenicians, hieroglyphs and ancient writing. That
will form the bones of an entry of some sort eventually.

One very good reason for writing is that it clarifies ideas in my own
head. I can't write the entry about something until I fully understand it.
So I have to learn a lot in order to keep myself happy.

The Guide is growing, and it is almost at the stage where it is worth
searching it for the answer to any query before going out onto the Net for
the wider view. I'm delighted to be associated with such a venture.

Getting on our bike we get to...

Hello! Well, shucks, trying to persuade me to talk about myself? Ha! Try
and stop me!

What is my favourite article of my own writing. Well, that's a hard one.
Constant-mesh and Synchromesh Gears was the most
challenging to write - trying to explain a difficult concept without
pictures - but I think if I had to pick just one it would probably be Acronyms - I actually had an argument with someone at
the OED about the definition of acronym. I think it has to be pronounceable,
they don't - but if it doesn't have to be pronounceable, what's the
difference between an acronym and a set of initials?

Why do I write so much? I don't these days, or at least I write mainly on
Usenet or my own website (www.chapmancentral.com) - but the motivation is
the same: I am an enthusiast, and I like to share my enthusiasms with
others. Cycling is a particular theme at the moment, and Belgium is a
favourite place, so both get more than the occasional mention. H2G2 is a
friendly place, if rather more corporate than it was. If there were a quick
and easy way to update pages I would undoubtedly use it more. There are some
entries I would love to revise, not all of them mine -
Flanders and Swann - Musicians should be more like this for example. But that's a perennial niggle I know
(Sounds like a job for Jimi X and the update team - DD).

A full list of Just zis Guy's entries can be found on his homepage.

Which leaves only one of the big hitters

Sadly Bluebottle has not been around H2G2 quite as often as he would like
recently due to exam and work commitments however we wish him well and hope
to find out more about the Isle of Wight if there is anything else to
tell.

Well he first appeared on the scene on 31 Jan 2000 under the guise of
Crusader, but the call to greet him came from the PTB. So as you can tell he
is italicised. The only thing is he has no idea of the significance of the
number 42 as he has yet to read the books that Douglas
Adams wrote. However he is now one of our dearly beloved editors
(even when they reject a perfectly-scouted entry from the edited guide)
Ashley Stewart Noble.

The first article he contributed to was A Guide to
Opera Plotlines which set the tone for some his other entries when it
hit the front page on 27 March 2000. However his first solo entry on 5 June
2000 showed the parts of the world he had travelled to and love when he told
us all about Avignon, Vauluse, France. So apart
from being cultured and well travelled what else do his entries reveal about
Ashley. Well there is line dancing Two-stepping in
Texas and skinny dipping Splash at Hippy Hollow,
Austin, Texas, US as well as A Dominatrix and
her Dog which was inspired by a rather interesting dinner party,
allegedly.

However there are some serious issues that Ashley has addressed in his
writing. Topical at the moment is The Marsh Arabs
which deals with one of the suppressed peoples of the Middle East. Then
there is a dark moment of history 11 September, 1973 -
The Day Democracy Died in Chile.

The article that gave him the magic 42^nd entry was very tasty
and may have been missed by many while enjoying your Christmas turkey
however try out Petit Sale aux Lentilles - Gammon
Knuckle with Lentils for some delicious Northern French cuisine. His
latest and 46^th entry is on the subject of Cauls but I won't spoil it by telling you about it here.

A quick look at what is coming up revealed that

these guys are not finished yet. Here's a list of

articles that have got through Peer review and the Coming Up page of what
these guys have coming your way soon.

Demon Drawer

The Demon Drawer Archive

24.04.03 Front Page

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