[2][3][4] The intent is to create an Earth-focused guide that allows members to share information about their geographic area and the local sites, activities and businesses, to help people decide where they want to go and what they may find when they get there.

Explicit advertising of businesses was forbidden when the site was run by the BBC, but customer reviews were permitted.

[9] The science fiction/comedy writer Douglas Adams was one of the founding members, along with Robbie Stamp, executive producer of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie (2005).

The h2g2 website was founded on 28 April 1999 as a community-site dedicated to producing the "Earth edition" of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by the author of the series, Douglas Adams, and his friends and colleagues at The Digital Village.

The game division became a new company, Phase 3 Studios, which continued for several months under the ownership of PAN Interactive, but ultimately closed in 2002.

[16] On 24 January 2011, the BBC announced cuts of 25% to its online budget, resulting in a £34 million less investment into the site.

To contribute to the site it is necessary to register and to agree to the h2g2 "House Rules" and the general Not Panicking Ltd Terms and Conditions.

Researchers retain the copyright to their articles, but grant Not Panicking Ltd a non-exclusive licence to reproduce their work in all formats.

[21] His account name was DNA, and his user number was 42, a reference to the joke in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is 42.

The objective is to provide something that resembles HTML but is simpler to learn, and allows basic textual content to be formatted in a skinnable way.