Part of the reason for starting this new weblog was to post my journal entries here after becoming more than somewhat disillusioned with how our beloved h2g2 has been changing recently.
So basically, this journal entry is here for anyone who would like to discuss issues about h2g2, get stuff off our chests, whatever.
I’m still not quite ready to abandon h2g2 altogether . . . what about you?
casa azahar 
I’m not ready to leave. It would take all the right people being together on a single site (and some wrong or not-yet-known people to stimulate debate ‘A stranger is just a friend you haven’t made yet’ )
Too many sites to keep track of! It’s hard enough trying to keep up with multiple hootoo conversations.
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It’s very true that you can meet the most interesting people on h2g2 . . . most blogs I’ve looked at are not as far reaching in terms of the ‘community’ factor that h2g2 has going for it.
Except TPTB on h2g2 seem to be shooting themselves in the foot and alienating many of their very long-term members.
az
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I never plan on deserting h2g2, at least for the forseeable future until I go to university. I’ve grown and changed too much as a person because of h2g2 to leave it so quickly. And if you guys all leave, who will I have to talk with?
Besides, my beloved Post needs me!
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I’m adding your RSS feeds to my ‘AmphetaDesk’, az. I’ve had a look at nog’s too.
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Ah! I was just about to say that I suppose one way to solve the keeping track problem would be to use RSS. I’ve never really played with it.
But that still won’t deliver the pleasure of coming across unexpectedly interesting conversations – or people.
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I’m not ready to leave Hootoo either, it still fufills several functions for me. I agree about the *community* aspect but I do think that is changing for the better as people come and go and some of the more bizarre new ptb ideas are either circumvented or ignored. I still count amoung my friends people I have never actually met from there and the easiest way to communicate with them (for me) is the odd lurk or post.
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Since starting up this blog I’m starting to see the usefulness of it as a sort of ‘companion’ to h2g2. The hootoo community is quite a special thing to me, but some of the recent restrictions (and cackhanded handling of it all) has left me a bit fed up. But all of you lovely people I met just by happening onto this or that thread there – for that at least I shall always feel grateful to hootoo..
Anyhow, am quite interested in doing a bit more stuff with this blog as there are options here that don’t exist on h2g2. So I think it could be an interesting mix of internet communication.
az
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Just druid security swinging round to ensure you have not been kidnapped by this here ‘wordpress’ character.
Sorry I haven’t been active recently but it’s been a very busy half-year. I shall maintain my occasional presence on h2g2 to keep in touch with friends, but much of the sparkle has worn off the debates I was interested in.
Good to see your business has taken off. I will get around to browsing and ordering some stuff later in the year.
Bright blessings,
Matholwch /|\
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I think I’ve been on HooToo too long to just let it alone now… Its the range of people on HooToo, and the way conversations work that makes it so adictive…. True a fair few people who should have known better got way out of hand over a few incidents on site towards the end of last year which really began peeving me off, and the restrictive changes recently are more than a tadge annoying… I started my Blog up on a whimm, but its useful in that I can just say what the hell I like without having to restrict my language….
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Well, the original restrictions (when I first joined h2g2) were never a problem at all. Such as asterisking out swear words, not using a language other than English, no advertising, etc. But this stupid profanity filter is just too much. And now some journal and guide entries there seem to be going into limbo for awhile – apparently until they are checked out for ‘unsuitable content’. Sheesh!
*waves to Math!* Nice to know Druid Security extends beyond the boundaries of hootoo, but as I can edit things here (and also receive the IP numbers by email of everyone who posts) I’m hoping I won’t have any weird stalker problems.
2 legs – nice to see you here. I’ve added your blog to my list – hope that’s okay.
az
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Hî thèrè áz,
Ï thôüght ît wás hîgh tîmè Ï ÞôÞÞèd ôvèr áñd sáîd hèllô
H€LLÒ!
Lîkè zôômèr (Hî zôômèr) Ï’m ñôt rèádÿ tô lèávè Hôôtôô èîthèr áñd Ï, ÞèrháÞs ñáîvèlÿ, bèlîèvè thát máñÿ ôƒ üs îñ thè h2 çômmüñîtÿ wîll rîdè ôüt thè çürrèñt PTß strîçtürès áñd stîll bè árôüñd lôñg áƒtèr thè çürrèñt ƒárçè îs büt á dîstáñt mèmôrÿ
Ï sèè (át lèást) ôñè glîmmèr ôƒ hôÞè; thè rèlátîvèlÿ háñds-ôƒƒ áÞÞrôáçh ôƒ thè Ïtálîçs ôvèr thè Þrôƒáñîtÿ ƒîltèr ñôñsèñsè. Ï hôÞè/ássümè thát îñdîçátès thát thèÿ dôñ’t lîkè thè hèávÿ háñdèd, brütè-ƒôrçè áÞÞrôáçh áñÿ môrè tháñ Ï dô
Ï wôñdèr hôw Jîm Lÿññ ƒèèls. Ńtèr áll, hè wás áñd stîll îs îñstrümèñtál îñ thè dèvèlôÞmèñt ôƒ thè dñá sôƒtwárè thát îs ñôw üñdèrÞîññîñg Ï dôñ’t kñôw hôw máñÿ ßßÇ çômmüñîtîès. Máÿbè ît’s bèèñ tôô süççèssƒül??? σ ît hádñ’t bèèñ ádôÞtèd sô wîdèlÿ, máÿbè h2 wôüld hávè bèèñ lèƒt ‘üñƒîltèrèd’…
Whô kñôws? Ñôt mè
Åñthôô – thè ñèt îs á bîg Þláçè… áñd ñôw Ï hávè ôñè môrè Þláçè tô vîsît 🙂
Çhèèrs
sîx7s
P§ €vèñ thôügh Ï rárèlÿ hávè áñÿ ñèèd/dèsîrè tô üsè Þrôƒáñîtîès, èsÞ hèrè, Ï thôüght Ï sîmÞlÿ HÅÐ tô üsè thè ‘máñglèr’ tô wrîtè thîs Þôst. ÅÞôlôgîès îñ ádváñçè îƒ ît’s dîçült tô rèád
PP§ Ðôüblè áÞôlôgîès îƒ thîs îs á dôüblè-Þôst… thè 1st tîmè Ï trîèd brôüght üÞ á (ráthèr ƒrîèñdlÿ) mèsságè sáÿîñg thát thè sèrvèrs wèrè bèîñg twèákèd ƒôr 20 ôr 30 mîñütès… áñd thèÿ hôÞèd thîs mîght bè thè èñd ôƒ thèîr rèçèñt Þrôblèms
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Hey, how did you make a smiley here?
az
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Just popped by to tell you I'm stalking you too!
TRiG. 😉
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I haven’t completely turned my back on H2G2 either, but I’m considerably less active there these days – as you may have noticed. Mostly I lurk, and do a quick drive-by posting every few weeks at best, but could never leave the Chief Gordon Lightfoot completely behind – you lot are my first and best web friends.
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I will still be on hootoo also, though i have a Live Journal blog thing plus Hootoo exiles place.
I do a lot more lurking & a lot less posting though & can i say on this site please that i am bloody well pissed off with the f**king profannytea filther. As an ACE i am supposed to “toe the party line” but as a person i feel more like putting the boot in.
Terri (zdt)
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Heck Terri, here you can even say you’re bloody well pissed off with the FUCKING profannytea filther if you like. 🙂
az
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Is it just me or have things become decidedly low key and, well – boring! – on h2g2 lately?
az
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Oh now, c’mon already. Just received an email from the h2g2 Eds saying a post I made weeks ago on a SEx thread about quinine has been removed. Here it is:
“Ha! Frankly, just the smell of gin makes me want to puke – throwback to a very unfortunate incident when I was 14 and got totally shit-faced on gin and was sick for two whole days afterwards.
Though Noggin has just told me he’s never drunk gin in his life but the smell of it also puts him off.
So if I ever needed a daily dose of quinine I’d probably mix it with vodka.”
Um, since ‘shit’ is still an allowed word on hootoo, and since I was obviously not promoting getting shit-faced drunk on gin at age 14 (given how sick I got) . . . problem?
az
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/F77636?thread=3155790
Sounding more and more like a place I’d rather not be . . .
az
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Hello all, nice to see an *alternate* version of H2G2 alive and well. Now I can tell my version of *The Aristocrats* joke!! 😛
TPTB move in mysterious ways. Strangely in an odd way they’ve livened up Hootoo a wee bit just by their actions. For once people are talking about the process rather than the content which is refreshing for an old Luddite like me, anyway.
Mangler? I want one! I want one!
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*waits for joke*
az
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Have you not seen the film? A classic and I suspect probably right up your street. It involves the telling of the classic joke apparently known by all comics (since they all seem to have their own version). I'll tell you the basic version so the film isn't completely spoiled.
A booking agent goes to a venue manager to sell an act. He begins to discribe a family that goes on stage in formal attire and ends up naked performing every manner of horrendous sexual and perverted act imaginable (and then some). Bestiality with the family dog, incest, buggery, various bodily fluids being flung around, everything (to varying degrees). The manager is horrified and asks *Oh my God, that's horrible! What's the name of the act?*
The agent smiles and says…
*The Aristocrats!*
The film is various stories about the telling of the joke plus various comedians telling their version. (The only fairly sanitized version is by Jerry Seinfeld)
IMDB describes it as *No Nudity, No Violence, Unspeakable Obscenity*
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436078/
I was howling with laughter through the whole thing but some people were quite taken aback as you might imagine.
🙂
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Unfortunately, it’s a dire film….a bunch of up-their-arse comics being ever-so-precious about their art. At one point, one wanker compares a good stand-up routine to a Charlie Parker solo. Oh, fuck off! And Billy Connolly does his increasingly dull ‘outrageous chuckling’ routine.
When it was first reviewed on BBC Radio 4, Mark Lawson pointed out that the joke doesn’t even work for a British audience. We *expect* our aristocracy to be dissolute and nothing surprises us about them. The original – better – punchline from music hall days was ‘The Sophisticates’.
btw – the best ever cinematic use of the word ‘fuck’ was in this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107920/
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Well, each to their own.
I particularly liked the *reverse* version told where the act is two women of colour who play chamber music on cellos. When asked what their name is the agent says *The Nigger Cunts*. About as un-PC as I’ll ever get online- a joke that combines racism with the *C* word? How can you get funnier than that? 😛
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btw, Noggin is looking fit!
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Well, I’ve heard so many conflicting reports about the Aristocrats that I’ll just have to see it myself one of these days.
And imagine being able to say ‘nigger cunts’ in a journal. Meanwhile, funny how people aren’t abusing their freedom to swear here.
Yes, the Nogster is looking good, isn’t he? In the full version of that pic Mudhooks strategically placed a laptop on his, um, lap. Anyhow, just having a bit of fun playing with the new custom header option here – not sure if I’ll keep that one yet.
az
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Hi az, hope I’m not intruding, just to say hi
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Hi Reefgirl, 🙂
Nice to see you here. Feel free to stop by anytime!
az
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Hmm. I love dear old Hootoo very much indeed, but truth be told I spend most of my time hanging about in the Salon gassing. Not a useful member of society at all. I used to sub, but I found my standards were far too stringent and nit-picking and pissy and I’d find myself re-writing entries from scratch rather than just giving them a quick reality-check-and-polish, simply because the hapless author wasn’t writing it the way I’d’ve written it. For similar reasons I’m no use at all in Peer Review. And I have seen very good, rich, clever, detailed and witty entries be ‘lowest common denominatored’ by other subs who also have fuss-pot ways of doing things but don’t seem to share my keenness for grammar and factual correctness, so like heck am I going to submit anything.
I’m whining. Am I whining? Yes I’m whining.
But I don’t think the Beeb’s agenda was ever to provide a haven for the like-minded or even to retain old faithfuls. They have to appeal to all and sundry and they have to enforce discipline that keeps all and sundry out of each-other’s faces setting fire to each other’s hair. The fact that a sizeable and bright minority don’t need the discipline or censorship is neither here nor there. Minority. Important word. Hootoo is being managed for the people who turn up via google or the Movie, faff about for a week, and drift off again, because they are the majority.
Democracy can bite you in the ass like that, can’t it?
But I’m not going until the cold fires of hell melt the last hamster-wheel, because I have FRIENDS there, damn it. And I don’t have the infrastructure to have them all come and live on my blog.
I do go on when I’m riled, don’t I? Sorry. Please edit me if you think I need it. You I trust.
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The only person I’ve ever edited here has been me, Ag – and only so as to be able to say things perhaps a bit more clearly than I had at first. Another lovely blog option.
Meanwhile, if anyone else ever does post something here they’d rather have removed or changed later – that is another nice option. I can do that, with no questions asked.
You make a lot of sense, Ag. And I’m also not giving up on h2g2 – yet – mostly because of all the friends I have there.
This weblog mostly takes the place of my h2g2 journal entries. I never used to make many of those. Didn’t like that I couldn’t edit them or remove them from my PS without having to unsub from them.
But it was the profanity filter debacle that was the last straw for me. I mean, like I fuckin SWEAR all the time? 😉
And more to the point, it wasn’t the ‘filther’ as such, it was the cackhanded way it was dealt with by TPTB. I suddenly felt like the community I had felt such a part of no longer existed.
This weblog is an ‘aside’ I guess. And I’m actually having a lot of fun with it. The WordPress people are fab – very helpful and always coming up with ways to make the site more user friendly and interesting.
It doesn’t have the same ‘community’ feel as h2g2 has – or used to have – but more and more friends are moving over to blogs and we’re creating our own little community.
But I’ll still visit h2g2 and put my 2cents in here and there. Won’t ever start another journal entry there though. That’s what ‘casa az’ is for. 🙂
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Just stopping to say hello.
Seems most are headed over this way!
I am glad I can post without joining.
I may join up later, depends on where h2 people end up.
I will probably peek in h2 as long as it exists.
Az I want to check out your clothing site since it has been a while. I have a suggestion for marketing, though it is not usually my area!
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Hi abbi,
Lovely to hear from you, as always. Yeah, it does seem that a lot of people are starting up blogs – like you, I prefer the ones you don’t have to join to post on.
I’d love to hear your marketing ideas – when you have time why not pop over to the ‘azahar’s designs’ page – you can find a link to the feedback thread there.
And if you do decide to start a blog, I totally recommend WordPress. Very user friendly and lots of fun.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/F19585?thread=2167309&latest=1
post 1196
😦
az
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Oh, for crying out loud.
That makes it easier for me to stay away.
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“which seem closer to religious baiting than informed debate”
🙄
I know what you mean, Ivan.
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Hi az,
I’m not planning on leaving hootoo, even though it does appear that auntie beeb is turning into the grumpy old granny I was always scared of as a nipper.
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Well, although I still have no definite plans to leave I’m sure spending a lot less time there – also spending my time there differently. Now I’m mostly just chatting with friends and staying in touch.
I’ll never write another journal entry there, nor a solo guide entry, and the discussion threads have recently become so tediously repetitious – especially, I think, because people know they have to *watch what they say*. Ho hum …
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Last night I decided to ‘minimalize’ my h2g2 PS.
I also unsubbed from a lot of threads and removed my friends list, which shouldn’t be taken personally by anybody.
I would have removed all my journal entries as well but that would have unsubbed me from them and I didn’t want that, though I did remove some of them.
A bit sad, considering how much that place used to mean to me…
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I´m still at h2g2 but not posting as much as I used to… It seems as many of the people I like to interact with are missing. I lurk around, but not even the Thingites ´ threads are what they used to be…
…but I´m less online anyway, not only due to the fact that Geek (as always!) managed to exceed my quota… my internet connection at home is s…l…o…w at the moment…
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