Aces' Home Page | Why be an Ace? | What do the Aces do? | Aces' Code of Conduct | Volunteer to be an Ace

Here's a quick introduction to the h2g2 Aces scheme. It summarises the advantages of being an Ace, what h2g2 gets out of you being an Ace, and also covers the Aces' mailing list.

What You Get Out of Being an h2g2 Ace

We do hope that you get as much out of volunteering on h2g2 as all our other volunteers. Remember that you should be doing the work because you want to: we do hope you'll enjoy being an Ace, but we will never question you if you decide that it isn't really for you. Just let us know if you change your mind, need to take a break, or would prefer to join one of our other volunteer schemes instead.

There are plenty of benefits of being an Ace. Here are the main ones:

• You get direct access to the in-house team, who will gladly provide their community and editorial expertise for free.

• You get access to the Aces' mailing list (see below).

• We'll let you know about new gadgets we're developing for the site and encourage you to have a go and comment. This is a real opportunity to influence what happens on h2g2.

• You get a shiny Ace badge on your Personal Space and have the right to add <./>Ace</.> (which appears as Ace) after your name when posting.

• You get a considerable amount of kudos within the h2g2 Community.

How You Can Help as an h2g2 Ace

For more details, see What do the Aces do?

We need the Aces to grow the Community, and to help maintain and enhance the exceptionally friendly atmosphere that pervades the site as a whole. The site couldn't exist in its current form without them: the Aces are absolutely key to the continuing success of the Community. One of the most important aspects of h2g2 is that it is 'sticky' - people come to visit and end up staying for quite a while - and the Aces are a vital part of that process.

We also get to discuss our development ideas with our volunteers before they become reality. Often we've changed an idea because, after debate with the volunteers, we've realised that things would be better if done differently.

The Aces' Mailing List

The Aces and internal staff currently communicate private material via a private mailing list, to which all Aces are subscribed. When we subscribe you to the mailing list you receive an email detailing the URL and the various ways of accessing the mailing list.

The mailing list is for invited members only, so you can be perfectly candid here. Indeed, that's the point: it's for discussions about onsite issues that might be too sensitive for a public forum¹, and for announcements about new versions of the test site and suggested changes to the scheme. At the same time, please keep general Ace conversations off the mailing list so as to avoid filling it up with lots of friendly greeting messages - please do that on the Aces' Home Page here on h2g2.

That said, any questions you have can be fired at the mailing list, and you'll find the other Aces will be happy to help you out. We like to let discussions develop before diving in with any official standpoint, as you are very much involved in the development of the site and the scheme, and discussion aids that. It's also a lot of fun.

This page replaces the original at A537707.

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¹ Though remember that any Researcher you discuss may one day become an Ace with access to the mailing list.