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anonymous2009

Listed below are comments made by anonymous2009 between Thursday, 18th June 2009 and Tuesday, 25th August 2009.

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Anonymous on the internet 10:28pm on 25 Aug 2009 I'm anonymous because I'm told I must not disclose contact details.

Actually I am happy to remain anonymous too, most of the time, here and elsewhere, and tend not to use the same nickname (or e-mail address) for different discussion areas.

It's not my screen name or real life name that should be important, but whether I 'talk' (write) sense or not.

Answering some question, or furthering debate, is surely the reason for comments being posted, apart from each original blog post, effectively a 'leader' article.

However with various bits of new media coming about, I think the terminology is getting confusing. Gone are the days of simple discussion on a BBS (Bulletin Board System) as we not have a wealth of methods for 'comment' some better than others (I'm hinting at FaceBook, Twitter and so on, things I don't actually use, plus cranky bespoke systems, such as being used this minute).
Digital Britain - who foots the bill? 10:39pm on 12 Aug 2009 Actually, seeing that there's a link in another blog to a Number 10 petition (about not closing down AM/FM radio), and given this is all about how fibre could be expanded for users across the UK, I'd like to point to another petition, which asks the Government to (1) review the Digital Britain report and consider distribution of data centres to parts of the UK outside the South East (a BBC R4 programme not many weeks ago reported that new data centres cannot be built inside the M25 as there are power supply problems until after the 2012 Olympics), and (2) fund FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) with Rural areas getting FTTC first.

Please see the petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/WideAreaNet/

I really hope the Government can see that for us to be "ready" when the economic upturn comes, having the infrastructure (in this case FTTC which will cost a fraction of fibre to the home/business) in place will allow the UK to "keep up" with the rest of Europe.
Language on air. 6:23pm on 12 Aug 2009 I suspect that using GPS would not be welcomed by the boys (and girls) in blue, as they'd see it as being "spied on".

From what I heard, it sounded like someone deemed it lower priority and therefore, even knowing where all staff are located, it might have made no difference to the timescale for visiting the nurses (shame on the police - it's one thing to consider the women 'safe' because they are in a property but after threats of rape, the police should have "made the effort" immediately).

Of course, there will be many 'out of town' areas where there is likely to be no police response on a Friday or Saturday night, as the senior staff concentrate their efforts in policing bars and pubs in the town centres. Another case where, in days gone by, a "local bobby" would have remained local and not be dragged away so easily.
Language on air. 5:38pm on 12 Aug 2009 Don't care either way.

I think the whole issue is a non-story - the fact he was secretly recorded means it is only being released as news to smear the man.

Sure, I'm as angry as the next about any misuse of expenses (and even the "within the rules" use, where such expenses would never be entertained in industry), and equally annoyed when it comes to hints that MPs don't get enough pay, when an excellent R4 programme highlighted just how high up their salaries make them in the scale of UK salaries (in the top 5% if not the top 3% so head and shoulders above people like me, for sure).

However, whichever party (and I don't support his) he is from, he is entitled to make a fool of himself in a meeting by joking about expenses. I don't think we should worry about every word an MPs says - Cameron's gaff the other week was actually quite interesting when it comes to the North / South divide on slang - we all know it was rude, but clearly a good portion of the country took that word to mean "twit" and little more.
Digital Britain - who foots the bill? 2:57pm on 30 Jul 2009 I'm far from convinced we need more than 30-40 Mbps - for a start, many data centres have a 100 Mbps limit per ethernet port, shared among all server users. Push the speed up 5 fold, and you need to increase the number of servers, or would see the same kind of speed as at present.

For those in Rural areas, there's actually a petition on the Number 10 site, requesting the government fund Fibre to the Cabinet (approx cost 5 billion), but making it a priority for Rural areas to get it first - remember that cities already have greater competition available (cable, LLU, 16 and 24 Mbps services).

I cannot link to it, of course, as that may be removed, but it concerns the Digital Britain plans, putting data centres in areas other than the South East, which is already creaking - a Radio 4 show reported that no new datacentres can be up and running before the Olympics, because of (electric) power constraints.

There would no doubt be some environmental benefits, working from home, and for small businesses outside the cities to be on a 'level playing field', as well as making the UK 'ready' for the upturn in the economy, in due course.
BBC News, Twitter and suits 1:35pm on 30 Jul 2009 Re 15 - 07 Mar 2009, synthil wrote (re Twitter)

"It's a brand name. A trademark. A business."

I'd say exactly the same for Google. Lots of times a BBC presenter on radio will suggest someone "Googles for 'subject'" when "search" would be a perfectly adequate expression.

Some may counter that it has gone into the dictionary so that makes it legitimate, but one should ask *why* did it get into the dictionary (I don't know which one, just a 'fact' on some radio item)

It seems Google has the highest share of seaches in the UK, a coincidence, perhaps, but it was a bit of a surprise to me to see that it was higher than in the USA and Canada.

FWIW, I use MetaCrawler which calls in results from 4 or more search engines, but doesn't have a "UK pages only" option. Incidentally, does no-one at Yahoo or Google consider that should be the 'default' for viewers from the UK, for whom they display the UK version... seems a clear choice to me, if they're showing it on the page, it should be the default, as many searchers will want a 'local' result.
Roger Bolton's teeth 2:45pm on 21 Jul 2009 1) Glad you mentioned Trails (the "One small step for man..." sound clip has me at bursting point, as it has had too much playing over the last week, and just when I thought R4/FiveLive was 'over it', I heard it again just before the Afternoon Play)... Did you forget your blog about Repeats in February when you indicated you would cover Trails sometime in _that_ month ? (unless I've missed a blog entry on the subject, in which case, apologies)

2) You have several weekly programmes, "Pick of the Week", "Moneybox" (apart from a few summer reports), "Broadcasting House", and so on, but given there are comments of complaint and praise because of radio content *every* week, and Feedback cannot cope with it normally, consigning some to the website (apparently, though that gives rise to a digital divide), is there any reason for not having "Feedback" on _every_ week, please?

"Feedback" seems to find time for a report on some topic most weeks, which cuts time for listener comments quite a lot, but given many programmes are weekly then surely "Feedback", which is meant to allow listeners to provide the BBC with feedback (rather than only following a formal complaint route!) could also be weekly - even if you had guest presenters such as Chris Dunkley - for when Roger is busy or on holiday...

When you replaced "The Message" (alternating with "Feedback") with "The Media Show" you gave the latter (surely of most interest to those in broadcasting!) a weekly slot. So why does the Media get a weekly slot, but your listeners (customers / source of income!) get less from your service and have fewer opportunities to comment on it?
Digital Britain. 1:26pm on 22 Jun 2009 Incidentally, there's no need for 'shorthand' web links - the Downing Street petition is at

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/AM-FM-Radio/

that's surely short enough (except for Twitter users!)
Digital Britain. 1:21pm on 22 Jun 2009 In fairness, there is mention of "ultra local" radio being put as a temporary measure on the 88-108 FM band, but this hardly compares with the content we expect from BBC and other existing stations, and they did finally mention DAB+ (which is NOT backward compatible with current DAB radio, so poor blighters who buy FM or current DAB kit will be blighted and need to buy yet more radios in the long run).

I saw mention of 'scrolling text', listen again and revenue being features the broadcasters can get using digital.

However, it's a mish-mash of what can be done using existing online and broadcast services, and some possible new bits, but quite unclear as it seems more like marketing speak to claim it is good.

There are contradictory statements such as (DAB) "sold well" (para 137) where elsewhere there's known to be a shortage of listeners using digital services...

Another comment says that listeners using digital are "happy" with it (obviously not been following lots of comments online complaining about poor quality from the BBC, because of low bitrates [only on DAB], gurgling sounds, and putting 'quantity' over 'quality' by pushing too many stations on, causing the rotten audio quality.

There seems to be no thought for the existing listeners - the comment from the BBC in R4 'Feedback' was rather bland, along the lines of 'we'll go along with it' without any dissent, or any strong reasons why it would benefit the listeners.

Experiments with video (Mayo show on FiveLive, and coming on The Material World) are not what RADIO is all about.

Sure the studio can have a webcam, but Twitter, Facebook and so on as ways for getting contact pander to those under 30, and alienate those who don't have internet access, don't Want internet access, or if they do have access, don't use these services, and don't want to have to register with them just to get in touch with some BBC programme.

It's getting daft these days, listening to a local station, when the 'DJ' is taking silly comments from Twitter, text messages, etc. I bet this will burn some of them out, or are they all 'technology junkies' in the BBC now?
Digital Britain. 9:35pm on 18 Jun 2009 MarkyRainbow @58

I am considering wording a couple of petitions, however one niggle is that of losing my anonymity if I do so, and there are other things I plan to petition about, though I still have work to do on a website (highlighting a number of specific petitions, some which have now expired, but are of interest, in my view) and will use that website to (hopefully) draw attention to various matters, though not, of course, via the BBC (well, not directly - with luck it will get mentioned on FiveLive and R Wales, if not R4!)

I will certainly give it more thought, and perhaps encourage a friend (a Hi-Fi dealer) to submit the petition, which I'll support, of course, but not within the first 50.

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