History Website / H2G2

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: Douglas Adams was British. The BBC is British. Most (though by no means all) users of h2g2 are British. Is it a surprise if h2g2 sometimes feels a bit... well... British?

* CriticalResearchFailure: See below. Even if Ford Prefect got it all wrong (at first) hootooers generally do not. Or at least, not for very long.

* CriticalresearchFailure: See below. Even if Ford Prefect got it all wrong (at first) hootooers generally do not. Or at least, not for very long.

If it had been created today, it would have been called UsefulNotes/WebTwoPointOh (and maybe, "yet another wiki site"). Back then, it was called h2g2. It predated Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, its more popular alternative, by two years. For all intents and purposes, Adams invented the Wiki. It can still be found [[http://h2g2.com here]].

* GreatBigBookOfEverything: Douglas Adams's aim in setting up h2g2.
* {{Homage}}: most Hootooers have been assigned six, seven, or even eight digit user numbers in the format U538194. Douglas Adams could only be assigned one Researcher Number. His was, and ever more will remain, U42.

* [[WeAllLiveInAmerica We All Live in the UK]]: Douglas Adams was British. The BBC is British. Most (though by no means all) users of h2g2 are British. Is it a surprise if h2g2 sometimes feels a bit... well... British?

* BerserkButton: Like any internet forum, you can be having a pleasant conversation when someone says the wrong thing...
* CargoCult: Many years ago, one user writing under the nickname "nighthoover" inquired in one of the main forums [[http://h2g2.com/F19585?thread=143046#p1338267 how he might be able to cancel his account]]. Said user had posted once more, and then left the site. The thread, however, has been hijacked by some of the resident CloudCuckoolander folks, who hailed him as a lost prophet, and eventually spurred the Religion of Nighthoover (ItMakesSenseInContext[[note]]...Actually, it probably doesn't. It's madness. But It's funny.[[/note]]). Lettuce spry!
* CloudCuckoolander: If you've been on h2g2 long enough, you'll have heard of (or from) [[http://h2g2.com/U169793 2legs]], a TalkativeLoon and frequent inhabitant of the forums, capable of derailing any thread in seconds. See also under CargoCult.

* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: strongly averted, as the long and painstaking Peer Review system will always throw up hootooers who can spot and correct errors, or at least point them out to the Researcher. Hell, they're not called Researchers (with a capital "R") for ''nothing''...

* NostalgiaFilter: During the BBC days, barely a day went by without someone lamenting how much better things were before EvilInc took over. The first signs of 'why can't we go back the golden days when the BBC ran the place' have already started to appear.

* TalkativeLoon: Some people just have to reply to every thread. Note that this says "reply", not "contribute". When there are no threads to reply to, they start their own. And then reply to them.

* TimestampsAreYourFriends: this is essential on many of the discussion threads where after a period of intense activity, a discussion can suddenly run out of steam and become dormant. Only for somebody to discover it and pick up the thread again, often after an unfeasably long length of time...

If it had been created today, it would have been called WebTwoPointOh (and maybe, "yet another wiki site"). Back then, it was called h2g2. It predated Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, its more popular alternative, by two years. For all intents and purposes, Adams invented the Wiki. It can still be found [[http://h2g2.com here]].

If it had been created today, it would have been called WebTwoPointOh (and maybe, "yet another wiki site"). Back then, it was called h2g2. It predated Website/{{Wikipedia}}, its more popular alternative, by two years. For all intents and purposes, Adams invented the Wiki. It can still be found [[http://h2g2.com here]].

* FanNickname: Often referred to as "hootoo".
** FanCommunityNickname: The above leads to the users often being referred to as "hootooers" or "hootooizens" or variations on that theme.

Back in 1999, Creator/DouglasAdams - who was always quite a technophile - decided it was about time to make a website for Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy. He didn't want it to be a fan site, a mostly-static place with information about the Hitchhiker's series; he had [[http://h2g2.com/A550955 something much bigger]] in mind. What he wanted was, in essence, the "Earth Edition" of the Guide, somewhere where internet users could write and post their own articles about Life, the Universe and Everything, share information, create an online community; all those wonderful things that the World Wide Web made possible (and some things that he imagined would be possible in the near future, such as the use of "devices [...] that combine palmtop computers with cellphones with Internet devices with GPS systems"). So that's what he did.

If it had been created today, it would have been called WebTwoPointOh (and maybe, "yet another wiki site"). Back then, it was called h2g2. It even predated Website/{{Wikipedia}}, it's more popular alternative, by two years. Of course, this literally meant ''Adams invented the Wiki'', but sadly, no one ever acknowledges that. It can be found [[http://h2g2.com here]].

If it had been created today, it would have been called WebTwoPointOh (and maybe, "yet another wiki site"). Back then, it was called h2g2. It even predated Wikipedia, it's more popular alternative, by two years. Of course, this literally meant ''Adams invented the Wiki'', but no one ever acknowledges it. It can be found [[http://h2g2.com here]].

If it had been created today, it would have been called WebTwoPointOh. Back then, it was called h2g2. It can be found [[http://h2g2.com here]].

The site almost went down when the dot-com bubble burst, but was acquired by TheBBC, who kept it going for another decade or so, until a reorganization of the BBC sites left h2g2 out of the picture. It is currently being run by the Community Consortium, who bought it from BBC.

Back in 1999, DouglasAdams - who was always quite a technophile - decided it was about time to make a website for Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy. He didn't want it to be a fan site, a mostly-static place with information about the Hitchhiker's series; he had [[http://h2g2.com/A550955 something much bigger]] in mind. What he wanted was, in essence, the "Earth Edition" of the Guide, somewhere where internet users could write and post their own articles about Life, the Universe and Everything, share information, create an online community; all those wonderful things that the World Wide Web made possible (and some things that he imagined would be possible in the near future, such as the use of "devices [...] that combine palmtop computers with cellphones with Internet devices with GPS systems"). So that's what he did.

* AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload: "h2g2" is the fan-accepted abbreviation for ''The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy''. (two "h"'s, two "g"'s). This is a lot simpler and easier than typing ''The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy''on each and every occurence. This only appears to be accepted in a limited sort of way on tvtropes, however...

* CargoCult: Many years ago, one user writing under the nickname "nighthoover" inquired in one of the main forums [[http://h2g2.com/F19585?thread=143046#p1338267 how he might be able to cancel his account]]. Said user had posted once more, and then left the site. The thread, however, has been hijacked by some of the resident CloudCuckoolander folks, who hailed him as a lost prophet, and eventually spurred the Religion of Nighthoover (ItMakesSenseInContext[[hottip:*:...Actually, it probably doesn't. It's madness. But It's funny.]]). Lettuce spry!

* DidNotDoTheResearch: strongly averted, as the long and painstaking Peer Review system will always throw up hootooers who can spot and correct errors, or at least point them out to the Researcher. Hell, they're not called Researchers (with a capital "R") for ''nothing''...

* DidNotDoTheResearch; strongly averted, as the long and painstaking Peer Review system will always throw up hootoers who can spot and correct errors, or at least point them out to the Researcher. Hell, they're not called Researchers (with a capital "R") for ''nothing''...

* CreatorWorship: the justified attitude of reverance and awe, shared by many hootooers towards Douglas Adams

* OlderThanTheyThink: The fact that the article system is based on user-created content have led to the site sometimes being labled "[[ThatOtherWiki Wikipedia]]-like"; however, since h2g2 got started back in 1999, it in fact predates Wikipedia by about two years.

Back in 1999, DouglasAdams - who was always quite a technophile - decided it was about time to make a website for the HitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy. He didn't want it to be a fan site, a mostly-static place with information about the Hitchhiker's series; he had [[http://h2g2.com/A550955 something much bigger]] in mind. What he wanted was, in essence, the "Earth Edition" of the Guide, somewhere where internet users could write and post their own articles about Life, the Universe and Everything, share information, create an online community; all those wonderful things that the World Wide Web made possible (and some things that he imagined would be possible in the near future, such as the use of "devices [...] that combine palmtop computers with cellphones with Internet devices with GPS systems"). So that's what he did.