Random Ramblings
Created | Updated Feb 18, 2009
Never share and no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
Apart from the usual threads about religion, hootoo is silent. So silent in fact, that Ben started a thread on Ask h2g2 the other day, complaining that nobody discussed the current bushfires in Australia. The conversation soon turned into one about how nice and global and open hootoo had been when it started more than nine years ago, and how much it has changed for the worse, and whose fault it is that so many Australian researchers have left the site. Meanwhile, the conversations about the current situation in Australia that had been going on all along in some researchers' journals continued.
In another corner of hootoo, the first commotion about the Stretcher has calmed down again. At the same time, some of the Entries have been published, with others pending until their day on the Front Page. Galaxy Babe has set up an Archive for the competition entries which made it into the Edited Guide. I wonder whether she has planned to do the same for the entries which will make the UnderGuide, but by the looks of it, there is absolutely no reason for her to hurry. I have been browsing the UnderGuide pages, and stagnation seems to have got hold of the UG. If you've followed the featured UG entries which have made the Front Page this year, you'll have noticed that they've all been 'recycled' ones. A look at the What's Coming Up in the UnderGuide page will show you that they are in dire straits: One entry with a Polisher since last year October, no mined entries, no entries returned from Polisher, no entries on hold, and the whole page last updated on 6 January this year, shortly after the last 'new' entry was published. It makes me wonder why that is – is there a lack of suitable submissions to the Alternative Writing Workshop? It certainly doesn't make this impression on me, but then what do I know. However, I have the suspicion that they lack active volunteers. If you have a look at the volunteers lists on the homepage of the UnderGuide's Editors you'll be hard pressed to find researchers who are 'visibly' active on hootoo in general, and in the AWW in specific. From what I can see, there is a grand total of three!! researchers who regularly comment, and all three of them submit articles on a regular basis. Two of them are official UG volunteers. About three others (again, two of them official volunteers) occasionally comment, and then there are the few, who, like me, comment every now and then. I usually only do so after I have been prompted by a friend. So if you think PR is quiet, have a look in the AWW and learn what quiet really means1.
Now if, for some reason, you don't want to participate in PR (although you should read Icy's Referencing h2g2, as well as Gnomon's current Notes from Around the Sundial to make you change your mind), why don't you go and read and comment in the AWW? The atmosphere is very friendly, and I'm sure your input would be much appreciated. Maybe you'll find your niche in h2g2 and even volunteer?
